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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



OUB SAVIOUR: 



If 

OR 

A BKIEF EXPOSITION 

OF THE 

BIRTH, TEACHING, MIRACLES, DEATH, RESURRECTION 
AND GREAT COMMISSION, OF JESUS CHRIST. 

BY A TEACHER. 



" And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scrip- 
tures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, 
through faith which is in Christ Jesus." — 2 Tim. iii. 15. 



REVISED BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 

1 

Si 
PHILADELPHIA: 
AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 
No. 31 North Sixth Street. 



344 



.09 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 
1844, by 

John B. Trevor, 
Treasurer of the American Baptist Publication Society, in 
the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 



■Hjygf' 



1)1 



PHILADELPHIA! 
KING AND BAIHD, PRINTERS, 

/ No. 9 George Street. 



CONTENTS. 

Page 

Introduction, 5 

Chapter I. — The Birth of our Saviour, ... 7 

II.— Flight into Egypt, .... 14 

III. — Our Saviour's Baptism, . . .19 

IV.— The Preaching of Jesus Christ, . . 23 

V.— The Preaching of Jesus Christ, . . 28 

VI.— The Lord's Prayer, .... 38 

VII. — The Preaching of Jesus Christ, . . 44 

VIII. — The Preaching of Jesus Christ, . . 48 

IX. — Jesus Teaching in Parables, . . 52 

X. — The Miracles of our Saviour, . .. 57 

XI. — The Miracle of giving sight to the blind, 62 

XII. — The Miracle of healing the withered 

hand, 66 

XIII. — The Miracles of walking on the water, 

and stilling the tempest, . . 70 
XIV.— The Miracle of feeding the multitude, 76 
XV. — Our Saviour's rule of forgiveness, . 81 
XVI. — Our Saviour's love for little children, . 84 
XVII. — The rich young man, . . . .88 
XVIII.— The death of John the Baptist, . . 93 
XIX. — The displeasure of the chief priests, . 99 
XX. — Our Saviour's lamentation over Jeru- 
salem, . . v • . . 102 
XXI. — The second coming of Christ, . , 105 
XXII. — The Saviour betrayed by Judas, . .111 
XXIIL— The Lord's Supper, . . . .117 
XXIV. — Peter's self-confidence; and his denial 

of the Saviour, . . . 122 

XXV. — Our Saviour's voluntary death, . . 127 

XXVI.— Our Saviour's suffering, . . .131 

XXVII. — Our Saviour's Resurrection, ♦ . 136 

XXVIII. — Our Saviour's great commission, . . 141 



INTRODUCTION 



My dear young friends: — 

This little book is intended to assist you in 
understanding a part of the Bible. I invite you to 
read carefully with me several passages in the book 
of Matthew, and see if the comment which you 
will find after the passages of Scripture will help 
you to understand them better than you did before : 
see if you are better acquainted with the character 
and teachings of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the 
world. If so, you may prize the knowledge above 
" the wealth of worlds ;" if not, I may have failed 
in commenting, or you in reading — but the Word 
of God is still pure, and all are guilty of great 
sin who read it with a careless eye, and an un- 
feeling heart. Have you thought how necessary 
it is that you should not only read, but understand 
and feel the truth of the Bible ? Perhaps you 
study it in the Sabbath school, and it may be you 
read it with your parents, or listen to hear them 
read it morning and evening, — but do you think 
every time you hear or read a passage, " now what 

1* 



O INTRODUCTION. 

is the meaning of this ? Does it apply to me? and 
what should it lead me to do?" I once knew a 
poor woman who had a large family of little 
children to take care of, so that she had to work 
from morning till night, and could not often get 
time to read a chapter in the Bible; but she told 
me that she always opened that good book in the 
morning, and read a few verses, and those precious 
words she tried to keep in her mind all day. 
Sometimes, in the midst of her cares and labors, 
she forgot them, and then she would look for a 
moment in her opened Bible again; — " and you 
cannot think," said she, " how sweet the word of 
God is to me." This poor woman felt that the 
Bible was her only guide to heaven, and though 
her hands were employed all the day, and she had 
many cares and sorrows, she desired to under- 
stand the word of God, and be prepared to go, 
when she died, to that happy place where there is 
no sin or poverty, sickness or death. Equally 
anxious should you be to remember, understand 
and feel the word of God. Never forget that the 
Bible is the book — the only book — which your 
Heavenly Father has given to direct you how to 
escape from everlasting punishment, and find the 
home of the righteous, where all is peace and love. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 
Matthew ii. 1 — 12. 

1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the 
days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from 
the east to Jerusalem, 

2. Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for 
we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship 
him. 

3. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was 
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 

4. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and 
scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where 
Christ should be born. 

5. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea; for 
thus it is written by the prophet, 

6. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the 
least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall 
come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. 

7. Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, 
inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 

8. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and 
search diligently for the young child ; and when ye have 
found him, bring me word again, that I may come and 
worship him also. 

9. When they had heard the king, they departed ; and, lo, 
the star, which they had seen in the east, went before them, 
till it came and stood over where the young child was. 

10. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding 
great joy. 

11. And when they were come into the house, they saw 
the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and 
worshipped him : and when they had opened their treasures, 
they presented unto him gifts ; gold, and frankincense, and 
myrrh. 

12. And being warned of God in a dream that they should 
not return to Herod, they departed into their own country 
another way. 

In reading the passage of Scripture which you 
see above, you soon come to the precious name 
of Jesus. This is the name which you should 



8 THE BIRTH OP OUR SAVIOUR. 

know and love better than all others. Jesus is 
the name which should sound sweeter to you than 
the names of your brothers and sisters, or even 
those of your father and mother ; and it is to assist 
you in learning how good and lovely Jesus is, and 
how much he has done for you, that this Sabbath 
school book is prepared. 

If you were to read the whole Bible through, 
you would find a great deal in all the books about 
the Saviour of the world, that is, Jesus Christ; — 
but each of the four first books of the New Testa- 
ment, gives a particular account of him. They 
are four histories of his life and death, written by 
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; four good men 
who lived at the time our Saviour was on earth, 
and the most of them went about with him, hear- 
ing his gracious words, and seeing his wonderful 
works. These men wrote as the Holy Spirit 
directed. They all give the same general account 
of Jesus, yet there are some particulars related by 
some of them which others do not give. They 
all loved the Saviour, and took pleasure in writing 
about him ; but it was God who directed them to 
write, and he inspired, that is, he taught them 
exactly what they ought to write, because he in- 
tended that we should know, and all who have 
the Bible should know, the true history of Jesus 
Christ. Therefore, remember, when you read the 
Testament with me, or when you read any part 
of the Bible, that the words you read came from 
God ; they are his words written by the hand of a 
man ; and remember too, if you neglect to read 
the Bible, or if you refuse to make it the guide of 
your life, you despise the God who made yoi 1 



THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 9 

and who will one day call you to account to him 
for all the actions of life. 

In the verses above we have Matthew's account 
of our Saviour's birth. In the first of them we are 
told that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This was 
a small town in the country of Judea, about six 
miles from Jerusalem, its chief city. Judea was in 
Asia, on the opposite side of the globe from where 
you and I live, and it is now one thousand eight 
hundred and forty-four years since Jesus was born 
there. Yet, as God was so good as to teach his 
servants to record it for us, we know just when 
and where he was born, as well as the people did 
who lived in Bethlehem. Luke informs us in the 
second chapter of his gospel, that when Jesus was 
a little babe he was laid in a manger, because 
there was no room for him in the inn. A manger 
in England, where the New Testament was trans- 
lated, was a kind of box, built up for horses and 
oxen to eat their hay from. Did you ever learn 
that beautiful verse of Dr. Watts ? 

lc Soft and easy was my cradle ; 

Coarse and hard my Saviour lay, 
When his birth-place was a stable, 
And his softest bed was hay." 

But in Judea they had no such stables as in 
England, or in our own country. Learned men 
say it was a caravansary, a kind of inn, where the 
caravans, or large companies of people, in journey- 
ing, rested at night. In one part of the building the 
people lodged, and in the other part the camels, 
horses and other animals were sheltered. It was 
probably in such a place our Saviour was born. 

When you were a tender babe, and could not 



10 THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

bear to open your eyes to the light of the sun, and 
a heavy sound would make you spring and catch 
your breath in fright — you had an easy cradle to 
be rocked in, and a soft bed to sleep in beside 
your mother ; the windows were shaded to keep 
out the bright rays of the sun, and every thing 
around you was kept still and quiet. But the 
blessed Saviour, who came from heaven to save 
sinners, when he was a babe was laid in a manger, 
the stable was the chamber of his rest, and the 
rude noises of the beasts fell on his soft ear. 

Although the people of Bethlehem did not know 
who Jesus was, there were some wise men living 
in the country east of that who were expecting the 
Saviour to come into the world, and they came to 
Jerusalem to inquire for him. 

God uses a variety of means to guide his people 
in the right way, and inform them about himself. 
Those men were told that Jesus had come by a 
peculiar star which God caused them to see in 
their own country, and which he made to move 
before them, and direct their course. Have you 
not heard Jesus called "the Star of Bethlehem V 
He is called so because this star moved towards 
Bethlehem, and stopped over the place where he 
lay. When you read the third verse above perhaps 
you thought it very strange that Herod and the 
people of Jerusalem should be troubled, because 
the wise men told them that they supposed Jesus 
was born. Good people would not have been 
troubled, but greatly rejoiced to hear of the arrival 
of such a stranger; but Herod was a very wicked 
king. He made all the people obey him, and as 
he heard Jesus called " the king of the Jews," he 



THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 11 

feared that he should lose some of his power, and 
be obliged to submit to Jesus. The people around 
Judea would be troubled by the same thing which 
troubled him, for he was so wicked that he would 
not allow them to be happy if he was not happy 
himself. 

In the fourth verse we are told that Herod called 
together all "the chief priests and scribes of the 
people," and demanded of them where Christ 
should be born. These were the wisest men in the 
Jewish nation. They had the Old Testament to 
read, and they knew that God had promised to 
send a Saviour into the world. It appears from 
their answer that they knew in what place Jesus 
should be born, because it was thus written by the 
prophet, " And thou Bethlehem in the land of 
Juda art not the least among the princes of 
Juda ; for out of thee shall come a governor that 
shall rule my people Israel." We find this passage 
in somewhat different words, in the book of Micah, 
chapter v. verse 2. You and I have both the Old 
and New Testament, and we should often compare 
them together, that we may see how God prepared 
the way for his Son to come into the world, and 
taught his people to believe and trust in him long 
before he came. Herod felt very anxious about 
the strange star, and after he had inquired particu- 
larly of the wise men at what time it appeared, he 
sent them to Bethlehem to search for the child 
which was born king of the Jews ; and told them 
when they found him to return and bring him 
word, that he might "come and worship him." 
This wicked king did not intend to worship the 
Saviour; he only said this to deceive the wise men; 



12 THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

perhaps he did deceive them, but you know he 
could not deceive God. The good men listened 
to the words of the king, and then they departed 
to find the infant Saviour; but they did not go 
without a guide, for. the same star which they had 
seen in their own country, moved along before 
them until it came over the place where Jesus was, 
and then it stood still. When they saw the star 
"they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." They 
felt that God was watching over and directing them 
in the right way, although they had found no one 
in the city of Jerusalem to assist them in search- 
ing for the Saviour. When the wise men found 
the young child with Mary his mother, they wor- 
shiped him, and presented unto him gifts which 
they had brought with them. In the eastern part 
of the world, those who called on kings, and other 
great men, brought presents to them; and these 
were brought to honor the Saviour. It is said 
they worshiped him. As we now use the word wor- 
ship, this would mean that they paid the Saviour 
reverence, such as is due to God, and that would 
have been right ; but we are not certain that the 
wise men did worship him in this manner, because 
as the word was then used, to worship only meant 
to pay great respect to a person. Herod, you 
know, was expecting these men to return to him, 
when they had found the Saviour; but God was 
watching over Jesus, and over the wicked king too, 
for we learn in the twelfth verse that he warned 
the wise men by a dream to go to their country 
another way, and not to return to Herod. They 
chose to obey God rather than man; and so the 
king did not learn where the infant Saviour was. 



THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. 13 

After this we hear no more of the wise men ; but 
as we have reason to think they were good men, 
we have no doubt they were happy as they jour- 
neyed to their home. They thought and spoke 
much of Jesus, and we hope they understood that 
he had come to be the Saviour of the world. 
Perhaps they sometimes thought of Herod, and 
pitied him because he was so wicked; but they 
need not have felt afraid of him, though he was a 
mighty king, for God, who was their friend, was 
far more mighty than he. 

From this account respecting the birth of our 
Saviour, what instruction can my young reader 
draw? Perhaps you have been thinking "there 
can be no lesson for me in these passages of scrip- 
ture, which just gives us the circumstances of the 
Saviour's birth;" but I think we can find a lesson 
here. Learn first, not to look among those who 
are rich and powerful, and live in splendid man- 
sions, for the wisest and best people. — Jesus Christ, 
who was superior to any being that ever dwelt on 
earth, chose the humble abode of poverty, and 
very many of those who are the followers of Jesus, 
are among the poor and despised of the earth. 
Secondly, learn that the wicked and powerful men 
are in the hands of God, and he can easily prevent 
their vile plans from being executed, as he did the 
plans of Herod. 

2 



CHAPTER IL 

FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 

Matt. ii. 13—21. 

13. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the 
Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take 
the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be 
thou there until I bring thee word : for Herod will seek the 
young child to destroy him. 

14. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother 
by night, and departed into Egypt : 

15. And was there until the death of Herod : that it might 
be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, 
saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. 

16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the 
wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all 
the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts 
thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time 
which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. 

17. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy 
the prophet, saying, 

18. In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and 
weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her chil- 
dren, and would not be comforted, because they are not. 

I' 19. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the 
Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 

20. Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, 
and go into the land of Israel : for they are dead which sought 
the young child's life. 

21. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, 
and came into the land of Israel. 

After the wise men had departed, an angel of 
the Lord — that is a being from heaven, one of those 
pure and happy spirits that dwell in the presence 
of God, and always rejoice to do his will — came to 
Joseph as he slept, and told him by a dream to 
take Jesus and Mary, and flee into Egypt, and 
remain there, until he came to see them again. 
Joseph was a good man, who had married Mary, 
the mother of Jesus, and to these two pious peo- 
14 



FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 15 

pie God intrusted the care of his Son, Jesus Christ, 
when he was an infant. 

Have you ever seen a picture called " The flight 
into Egypt/' where a desert country is pictured, 
with Mary riding on an ass, holding the precious 
babe close to her bosom; while Joseph is walking 
beside them, leading the slow beast, and urging 
him forward. A long road is stretched out before 
them, and the moon and stars are shining over 
their heads ; while all around, far and wide, we 
can see no habitation, and no living creature, but 
this lonely party hurrying away from the domin- 
ions of a wicked king. If you have never seen 
this picture, you can easily draw the scene in your 
thoughts ; and you can think too how Mary felt 
when Joseph first told her his dream, and she 
found that Herod was seeking the life of the child 
Jesus. She had longed for some better home for 
the sweet babe, than the inn — some better cradle 
than a manger ; and when the wise men came to 
worship him, she knew that it was right to pay him 
honor and reverence, and it may be she expected 
others, and even the king and the chief priests and 
scribes to come and worship him too; — but now 
she learned that Herod was seeking to kill him. 
Kill that innocent and lovely babe ! Kill that good 
being who had come to be the Redeemer of the 
world! Yet, strange and cruel as it was, they 
knew it must be true, for it was the angel of the 
Lord who had told them; therefore they hastened 
away from Bethlehem, to find another home among 
strangers. 

They were obliged to make a long journey, and 
to travel by night, lest Herod's people should see 



16 FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 

them fleeing, and take them back to him. You 
would think it very tedious to be out all night on 
a journey ; and no doubt they felt weary and needed 
sleep; but they loved Jesus very much, and thought 
little of themselves, if they could but preserve him. 
Besides, they were doing just as God directed them, 
and when people do right, they never feel very 
unhappy. 

Under the protection of their Heavenly Father, 
they arrived safe in Egypt, where they remained 
until the death of Herod. This was told by the 
prophet Hosea, many years before this, " Out of 
Egypt have I called my Son." 

When the cruel Herod found the wise men did 
not return to tell him where the Saviour was, "he 
was exceeding wroth." , He thought they had de- 
ceived him, and disobeyed his orders, and for this 
he meant to be revenged ; besides, he thirsted for 
the blood of the infant King of the Jews. He did 
not care how much distress he caused if he could 
only destroy him; and he thought if he sent his 
servants out to murder all the young children in 
Bethlehem, and in the country around, they could 
not fail to kill Jesus with the rest. So this hard- 
hearted king directed his men to take all the 
children that were two years old, and under, from 
the cradle, or from their mothers' arms, or totter- 
ing about the floor, and playing with their brothers 
and sisters, and murder them all. Here the words 
of the prophet Jeremy, or Jeremiah, came to pass, 
"In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation 
and weeping, and great mourning. Rachel," 
(which represents the mothers) "weeping for her 
children, and would not be comforted because they 



PLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 17 

are not." Do you wonder that there was bitter 
weeping? 

Perhaps you have seen a little brother or sister 
die ; and your heart ached when you saw its pretty 
eyes grow dim, and its sweet lips close in silence ; 
and when your mother bent over it, and groaned, 
and wept, and kissed its cold cheek — you wept 
aloud, and felt as if you could not be comforted. 
But your brother or sister was not murdered. 
Think how you would have felt if a ruffian had 
come into the house, and seized both your mother's 
youngest children, if she had a little infant, and 
another two years old, and killed them before your 
eyes. Think how your mother would shriek, and 
wring her hands, and perhaps lose her senses ; and 
while you were thinking only of your own distress, 
some one should come to tell you that the mur- 
derers had been into the next house, and the next, 
and your little cousins and friends had fallen also 
by their cruel hands; and every house around was 
like your own, filled with the voice of woe ! 

Just such distress as this, Herod caused in Beth- 
lehem, and the country around, because he meant 
to destroy the Saviour. If you know children who 
are very fond of power — anxious to make others 
obey them, you have reason to fear that they will 
dare to do very wicked things rather than give up 
their power. If you feel this disposition yourself, 
you should watch against it, and ask God to take 
it from you lest it should lead you to commit great 
sin. No doubt Herod would have hated the 
Saviour had he lived to hear him preach, and see 
his mighty works, but it could not be for this that 

2* 



18 FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 

he hated him now. It was only because he thought 
he was born to be a king. 

All this time while Herod tried to destroy 
Jesus, he was safe and happy, far away in Egypt. 
God had taken care of him because he knew what 
was in the heart of the wicked king. From the 
nineteenth and twentieth verses we learn that it 
was not long that the good family were obliged to 
remain in Egypt, for while Jesus was yet a young 
child, the angel appeared again to Joseph in a 
dream, and told him to arise, and return, with 
Jesus and his mother, into the land of Israel, 
because Herod was dead. O miserable king ! how 
soon was he called to give an account of the deeds 
done in the body! He was expecting long to 
enjoy his kingdom, but he is called away, and can 
carry nothing with him. He hated his fellow 
beings, and defied the God who made him, but 
now he is called before that God in judgment! 

Joseph and Mary were obedient to their Heavenly 
Father, and they took the young child, and jour- 
neyed back into the land of Israel. Now we need 
not suppose they traveled in the night, for they 
knew that Herod was laid in his grave, and they 
had nothing more to fear from him. They came 
trusting, as all good people do, in the protection of 
God, and rejoicing in the mercy and loving kind- 
ness which had watched over them. 

The flight into Egypt shows you how carefully 
God watches over those who love him, to keep 
them from all harm, and guide them in the right 
way ; and the death of Herod shows you that the 
wicked are in the hands of God, and will not long 
be allowed to persecute the righteous. 



CHAPTER III. 

OUR SAVIOUR'S BAPTISM. 
Matt. iii. 13—17. 

13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, 
to be baptized of him. 

14. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be bap- 
tized of thee, and comest thou to me ? 

15. And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so 
now : for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. 
Then he suffered him. 

16. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straight- 
way out of the water : and, lo, the heavens were opened 
unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a 
dove, and lighting upon him : 

17. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 

Neither of the histories of our Saviour gives any 
account of his childhood, and early youth, except 
that Luke relates one circumstance respecting his 
visiting Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary, when he 
was twelve years old. From that account we 
learn that he was capable of instructing the learned 
men in the temple, that he loved the duties of reli- 
gion at that age, and that he was obedient to 
Joseph and Mary. The period between our Sa- 
viour's birth and his baptism, of which we have 
an account in the verses above, was about thirty 
years. All that time we have now passed over, 
and as you read this chapter, you must not think 
of Jesus as a babe in the arms of Mary, but as of 
a man about the age of thirty years. In the thir- 
teenth verse we are told that Jesus came to John 
to be baptized of him. John was a very pious 
man, whom God sent to prepare the way for his 
Son ; that is to tell the people Jesus was coming, 

19 



20 our saviour's baptism. 

and exhort them to repent, baptize the penitents, 
and prepare them to receive him. He was so 
much devoted to the service of God, that some 
thought he was the Saviour; but he told them 
distinctly that he was not, but that Jesus was so 
much better than he, that he " was not worthy to 
bear his shoes." By this he meant that he was not 
worthy to be a waiter or servant for the Saviour. 
From the fourteenth verse we learn that John was 
surprised that Jesus should come to be baptized by 
him, and at first he did not consent, but said, " I 
have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou 
to me ?" Jesus answered, " suffer it to be so now, 
for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." 
As if he had said to John, " The circumstances 
are such now that it is proper I should be baptized 
by you. I have come into the world to obey all 
my Father's commands, and to set a perfect exam- 
ple for my followers." These reasons satisfied 
John, and " he suffered him," that is, he consented 
to baptize him. 

It may be, my young friends, that you have 
seen persons baptized in a font, or stream, or at 
the margin of the sea. Perhaps you have stood 
on a verdant bank, while a soft breeze was playing 
over the scene, and all nature was lovely around 
you; and as you listened, the voice of prayer was 
heard ascending from beside the still waters; and 
while the people were all solemn and thoughtful 
around you, the minister led a person slowly down 
into the water, and laid him gently beneath the 
waves, and then raised him up as he pronounced, 
"I baptize thee in the name of the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost !" This you know was 



OUR SAVIOUR^ BAPTISM., 21 

called a baptism, But did you think it was a 
ceremony which had no meaning, and one which 
we might attend to, or omit, just as we pleased? 
Far from this. Jesus said it became Him "to 
fulfil all righteousness;" and it is the duty and 
pleasure of all who love him, to follow his example, 
and obey all his commands. 

We understand from the Scriptures, that our 
Saviour appointed this ordinance for all his fol- 
lowers to observe in all ages unto the end of the 
world. He was baptized himself to set an example 
for all christians to follow, and, besides this, bap- 
tism, that is being buried under water and raised 
up, was designed to show forth our death to sin, 
and resurrection to a new life, and to represent 
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ on our 
behalf. In speaking of his own death, Jesus says, 
"I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how 
am I straitened till it be accomplished." Chris- 
tians are baptized in obedience to the command 
of Christ; but he did not command them to do a 
thing which had no use or meaning. All persons 
who are baptized show by that act to all who 
know them that they intend to forsake the world, 
and join the christian church, and endeavor to live 
always as the religion of Jesus requires. They 
show also, by having their " bodies washed in pure 
water," that their sins are washed away in the 
blood of Christ; that is, are forgiven, because Jesus 
has suffered and died for sinners, and now that 
God has shown them the wickedness of their hearts, 
and taught them to hate sin, they hope to be saved 
from the punishment they deserved through his 
mercy in Christ Jesus. They show also that they 



22 our saviour's baptism. 

trust in Jesus to raise up their bodies from the 
grave, even though they have mouldered back to 
dust, just as they are now raised up from the liquid 
grave in which they have been buried by bap- 
tism. 

I hope my reader realizes that it is a very solemn 
thing to be baptized. It is promising to the world, 
to angels, and to the great and holy God, that 
we will no longer live to ourselves, but " to him 
who hath loved us and given himself for us." No 
one should be baptized but such persons as truly 
believe in Jesus Christ, love him as their Saviour, 
depend wholly on his grace, and resolve by the 
help of God they will obey all his commands, join 
the church, and follow Christ. It is a very solemn 
thing to witness a baptism. When you stand by the 
water's side let your mind be sober and attentive. 
Listen thoughtfully to the prayers and singing, and 
look on the ordinance not only to see the candidate 
laid beneath the wave, but to think of the Saviour's 
love for sinners, and to think of that blessed hope 
which all enjoy who trust in him — the hope that 
they will be raised up from the grave, and taken 
to heaven to live forever with the Lord. 

We learn from the sixteenth verse that when 
Jesus was baptized, as he was going up out of the 
water, " the heavens were opened unto him," and 
he, that is John, " saw the Spirit of God descending 
like the appearance of a dove and lighting upon 
Jesus." In the seventeenth we are told that a voice 
from heaven was heard saying, " This is my beloved 
Son, in whom I am well pleased." Although our 
Saviour's baptism was in many circumstances like 
those which you and I have witnessed — in this it 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 23 

w.as far different. No other baptism has been like 
this; none can ever be like it, for God will not say 
of any other person, "This is my beloved Son." 
In this wonderful manner did God make known 
to John, and to the people, that his Son, whom he 
had long since promised to send, had now come into 
the world to be a Saviour for sinners. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Matt. iv. 17. 

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent : 
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 

I am now about to study with you, the preach- 
ing and the works of Jesus Christ, of whose birth 
and baptism you have been reading. If I do not 
understand the Bible myself, I cannot explain it to 
you. If I teach you that which is false, I must give 
account of it in the day of judgment. I therefore 
ask in prayer that my heavenly Father will teach 
me, that I may teach you. I therefore study the 
Bible with great care ; and besides I read the books 
which good men have written about the Bible, 
that I may not give you one idea which I do not 
think is right, or which your pious friends will not 
approve. 

Now let us attend to the preaching of our 
Saviour. To preach, you know, is to speak in 
public ; therefore we understand from the passage 
above that the time had now come when Jesus 



24 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

began to address the people who followed him. 
He did not converse, and answer questions only ; 
but he spake to large assemblies of people. He 
began to preach, saying, "Repent." This single 
word means a great deal. Have you studied it, 
and tried to understand its meaning 1 To repent is 
to be very sorry for our past sins, to confess them 
to God, and to forsake them by turning to the 
Lord. Repentance makes us feel that we would 
not do wrong again, if it were possible to do it in 
secret. We know that sin will make us unhappy, 
and ruin our souls ; but this does not distress us 
so much as the thought that we have done that 
which our Heavenly Father cannot approve ; this 
leads us to hate every thing wicked, and desire to 
be made pure and holy, that he may love us. 

I remember that one of my little friends, who is 
not now on earth, used to say, when I spoke or read 
to him of any thing he did not fully understand, 
"Will you explain it?" Perhaps some of you 
will understand the nature of repentance better if 
I illustrate it — that is, try to make it plain to you 
by supposing a case. Suppose there are two little 
brothers, we will call them Thomas and James, 
who have a very kind father who supports them, 
and is willing to expend a great deal of money for 
their education, and do every thing in his power 
to make them useful and happy when they become 
men. These boys are sent to school together, and 
they both waste their time while there, destroy 
their books, and do a great many things which 
they know their father does not approve. They 
both think they love their father, and sometimes 
they feel guilty, and think they will be more care- 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 25 

ful to improve the privileges he gives them; but 
still, there is in each of their hearts a very strong 
disposition to do wrong ; they love idleness and 
mischief, and finally they begin to play truant. 
Frequently they go away and spend the whole day 
with bad company, while their father supposes 
they are at school. When they come home and 
see their father's pleasant smile, and hear his 
affectionate language, each of them feels very 
uneasy ; his conscience troubles him, and at night 
he thinks, " I will go to school to-morrow, and be 
a good boy ;" but in the morning he chooses again 
the path of wickedness. Thus they both go on ; 
all the time receiving great care and kindness 
from their father; and all the time disobeying 
him, and daily growing worse and worse. So far 
we have supposed these boys to be just alike; but 
now suppose they come home one night, and find, 
in addition to all the former favors of their kind 
father, that he has purchased for them a beauti- 
ful and expensive orrery,* so that his little sons 
may study about the planets, and understand how 
each one moves around the sun. When Thomas 
sees this new proof of his father's love, he cannot 
help feeling that he does not deserve it, and he 
thinks for an hour or two of his sinful conduct ; 
sheds a few tears, and says to himself — but not to 
his father — " I am sorry I have not done right, and 
I think I shall do better after this." But he does 
not feel sorry at heart, confess his faults to his 
father, forsake them, and beg his pardon, and by 
the morning he has almost forgotten how good his 

* An Orrery is a machine so made as to show the motions 
of the planets. 

3 



26 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

father is, and how wicked he is himself, and so he 
goes on in the same sinful way as before. When 
James receives his present he feels as Thomas did, 
that he does not deserve it, but he feels a great 
deal more than this. He looks back as far as he 
can remember, and thinks over all his father's kind- 
ness and forbearance towards him, and then he 
thinks of his own conduct towards his father, and 
his heart really aches. He remembers the reso- 
lutions he has often made, but he knows he has 
broken them all, and now he dares not think, " I 
will do well to-morrow," but he says to himself, "I 
will confess to-night." He trembles and weeps, 
but he is resolved to tell his father all, even if he 
knows he shall be punished severely. He goes to 
his father, and with true sorrow of heart informs 
him of all his misconduct, and humbly asks his 
forgiveness, and promises entire amendment. The 
kind father extends his arms to embrace him, and 
as James listens to his forgiving language, and trea- 
sures his wise counsels in his heart, — he feels that 
his father's love and approbation are worth far more 
to him than all the amusements which have so long 
drawn him from his duty. The next morning, 
instead of thinking of some favorite play as soon 
as he wakes, he thinks of his father's kindness and 
forgiveness, and he feels so much love for him that 
he cannot bear to think of disobeying him again 
so long as he lives ; and from that time he becomes 
a studious and dutiful boy. Now you can easily 
decide which of these boys repented of his wicked- 
ness ; and can you not fully understand what Jesus 
told the people to do when he called on them to 
repent? 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 27 

All the persons whom Jesus addressed, and all 
the inhabitants of this vast world, are by nature 
like these wicked, ungrateful sons. God is like 
the good father, always watching over us, and 
bestowing on us so many blessings that we cannot 
count them. It is the duty of every one to repent, 
confess his sins to our Heavenly Father, and 
become obedient to all his commands. Until we 
do this, it is impossible to please God, or do any 
thing right; therefore Jesus began his preaching 
by urging this duty; and all his servants who 
preach in his name to this day, make it their first, 
and most important business to exhort their hearers 
to repent. Jesus says in the verse above, " Repent, 
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Perhaps 
some of you have read the Bible through in course ; 
if not, you may have read a part of the Old Testa- 
ment; and did you observe that its meaning was 
not so clear, and so easily understood as the mean- 
ing of the New Testament? It was written in a 
darker time. The good people in those ancient 
days believed that God would send a Saviour to 
redeem men, but they could not understand exactly 
how, or when he would come. Now the darkness 
had passed away ; Jesus had come, and the king- 
dom of heaven was at hand, because he was about 
to show his mighty works, make known his gra- 
cious doctrines, and then die on the cross to save 
sinners ; send the Holy Spirit, and establish a new 
order of things. Therefore, that was a time when 
those people to whom Jesus spoke were highly 
favored, and if they did not then repent they would 
be more guilty than those who lived and died 
before the Saviour came into the world. 



28 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

While you have been reading this chapter on 
repentance, have you said to yourself, " Do I need 
repentance V O yes ; the Bible says, " There is 
none that doeth good, no not one." Every little 
child has a wicked heart, which needs to be 
changed; and if you feel that you have never been 
truly sorry that you have sinned against God — this 
is the time, at the very moment while you are 
reading — -when you should go to your Heavenly 
Father, as we have supposed the penitent boy went 
to his earthly father, and confess all your sins, and 
ask his forgiveness ; and you may be sure that you 
will receive pardon. 

Note by the Editor. — Faith in Jesus, or believing in him, 
is also to be preached. Mark describes the preaching of 
Jesus in these words. (Mark i. 15.) il Repent ye, and be- 
lieve the gospel." John records the language of Jesus, 
(chap. iii. 16,) when he preached to the ruler of the Jews, 
li For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten 
Son; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." — " He that believeth on him is not 
condemned." (verse 18.) To believe in Jesus Christ is to 
receive him as our Saviour. This includes love to him and 
trust in him, — or the hearty approval of the soul to the gospel 
method of salvation. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHSIST. 
Matt. v. 1—12. 

1. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain : 
and when he was set, his disciples came unto him : 

2. And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 

3. Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven. 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 29 

4. Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted. 

5. Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth. 

6. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after right- 
eousness : for they shall be filled. 

7. Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy. 

8. Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God. 

9. Blessed are the peace-makers : for they shall be called 
the children of God. 

10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteous- 
ness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

11. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and perse- 
cute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, 
for my sake. 

12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your 
reward in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets which 
were before you. 

Now that Jesus had commenced preaching, and 
had begun to heal sick people, and cast out evil 
spirits, there were a good many persons following 
him; and it is said in the first of the verses above, 
that seeing the multitudes he went up into a moun- 
tain — not a high, rocky, vast wilderness, like the 
mountains of our country, but an elevated ridge or 
hill, where the multitude could set around and hear 
him. " And when he had set down, he opened 
his mouth, and taught them." It was the custom 
in that country for a preacher to sit down while 
he spoke. Jesus had not yet chosen the twelve 
apostles ; but a disciple means a learner, or one who 
desires to be taught, and there were many such 
persons that gathered around him, and the multi- 
tude covered the sides of the hill below. 

Think how the benevolent Saviour looked, sit- 
ting out in the open air, with the shady trees and 
broad blue sky over his head, and the wild scenes 
of nature around him, and a vast multitude, perhaps 
thousands of people, looking up at him, and trying 

3* 



30 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

to catch every word which fell from his lips — but 
think most of the words he uttered. He began by 
saying, " Blessed are the poor in spirit; for their's 
is the kingdom of heaven." "Blessed" means 
happy, and to be poor in spirit means to be humble, 
and think but little of ourselves. It is to feel that 
we are sinners, and have done no good works that 
can recommend us to God, but must depend 
entirely on his mercy to save us. Poverty of spi- 
rit does not signify a mean, cowardly spirit — nor a 
vulgar, degraded, low, trifling mind — nor a mere 
want of worldly things. Many persons who are 
poor, mean and degraded; who envy rich people, 
and fret, murmur, and complain, are very proud 
in spirit. Jesus gave the reason why the poor in 
spirit are blessed : " For theirs is the kingdom of 
heaven." That is, they are prepared to receive 
Jesus for their friend, and then all the blessings he 
can bestow are theirs. The kingdom of heaven 
reaches forward, too, into another world, so that 
the poor in spirit are not only happy on earth, but 
happy in heaven also. Will you examine your 
own spirit, and see if the kingdom of heaven is 
yours? Do you feel as if you are a little better 
than some of your young companions, or certainly 
quite as good as they? Do you feel so well satis- 
fied with your own heart, that you think God 
cannot help loving you; and you are therefore sure 
of being saved? If so, I cannot think that you 
are poor in spirit. In the next verse, Jesus says 
those who mourn are blessed ; for they shall be 
comforted. He was still calling on men to repent ; 
and those who are truly sorry for sin still mourn 
because they have offended their Heavenly Father; 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 31 

». * 

and such mourners, Jesus says, shall be comforted. 
He himself will be their comforter, for he says, 
i'Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest.' 5 * " Blessed are the 
'meek." Meekness is a calm, serene temper of 
mind; not easily ruffled, or provoked, and patiently 
bears injuries from others. Meek persons are not 
cowardly persons, but are those who stand firmly 
by the truth, and if they receive ill-treatment for 
it, they bear it patiently, and discover no wicked 
passions. Our Saviour gave us an example of 
meekness when he suffered death by the hands of 
wicked men. " When he was reviled, he reviled 
not again." To meekness is the promise, " For 
they shall inherit the earth." Christ does not 
here promise that the meek should have great 
possessions on earth ; but that their gentleness and 
forbearance should cause them to lead a quiet and 
peaceable life, and therefore they would enjoy more 
on earth than others. 

Jesus next speaks of those as blessed who hunger 

* Many sinners are very anxious and much distressed in 
seasons of religious revival, and desire their friends to pray 
for them, and yet do not mourn. A mourner, in the Scrip- 
ture sense, is a penitent, humble sinner, to whom God has 
promised mercy. The prophet Isaiah (chap. lxi. 1, 2, 3,) is 
speaking of the ministry of our Saviour, when he says, 
li The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the 
meek ; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to 
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison 
to them that are bound ; — to proclaim the acceptable year of 
the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God ; to comfort 
all that mourn ; — to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, 
to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourn- 
ing, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness ; that 
they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of 
the Lord, that he might be glorified. 5 ' — Editor. 



32 THE PREACHING OP JESUS CHRIST. 

and thirst after righteousness; because they shall 
be filled, or have that which they desire. To 
hunger, you know, is to feel a strong desire for 
food. I suppose few of my readers have ever 
known what it was to be really hungry. You may 
have thought yourselves suffering for food when 
you have been out at play after the usual dinner 
hour ; — but none of us, in this land of plenty, feel 
the distress of hunger, such as those suffer who can 
never obtain food enough, and sometimes pass two 
or three days without any. If we had ever suffered 
this we should understand more fully than we now 
do what our Saviour meant when he spoke of 
hungering after righteousness. But if you have 
never felt severe hunger, perhaps you know what 
extreme thirst is. Children sometimes play out 
in warm weather, till they feel the need of water 
more than anything else in the world. By this 
you can understand why Jesus used such a figure. 
If you were very thirsty nothing but water would 
satisfy you. We might try to entertain you by the 
sweetest music, the fairest flowers, and the most 
beautiful pictures ; and still you would think more 
of water than of every thing else. All the world 
could not turn your thoughts from that, which you 
so much desired. Jesus meant by hungering and 
thirsting after righteousness, that a person should 
feel so anxious to have his sins forgiven, and to 
become good in the sight of God, that he could 
take no rest without it. Nothing else would satisfy 
him, and he could not have his thoughts turned 
away from the subject any more than you could 
forget the water when you were very thirsty. Such 
persons, Jesus says, shall obtain the righteousness 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 33 

they so much desire. They shall be filled. Their 
sins shall be forgiven, and they shall enjoy the 
favor of God. Thus you see it is not promised 
that those shall be christians who only have some 
faint desire to be such, but those who desire the 
forgiveness of their sins above all other things will 
be sure to obtain it. 

Jesus next says, the merciful are blessed; for 
they shall obtain mercy. These are the persons 
who pity others in distress, and try to relieve them. 
I suppose there is no one who reads this, that has 
not had opportunity to pity, and perhaps to relieve 
some one in distress. Have you been merciful? 
If you have just said to some sufferer, " I am sorry 
for you ;" or if you have given him something which 
you did not want ; or something which belonged 
to your parents — you cannot be sure that you are 
truly merciful. We should be willing to deny 
ourselves for the sake of others; that is, give up 
the things we like, for the relief of the needy. 
Those who do this, Jesus says, shall obtain mercy. 
We will need the mercy of our Heavenly Father ; 
not only the daily mercies of his Providence, but 
that special mercy which saves sinners that are 
lost. We have sinned against God all our lives, 
and must have our sins forgiven, or be lost forever. 
If we should begin to serve him from this moment, 
and should hereafter keep all his commandments, 
still we should do no more than our present duty, 
and could make no amends for the past. We 
could do nothing towards paying the vast debt 
which we owed to God before we began to serve 



I 



34 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

him. Thus you see we should need the mercy of 
God if we could become christians of ourselves at 
this moment ; — but this we cannot do. His mercy 
must turn us into the right path ; his mercy must 
keep us from going astray again into the paths of 
sin; and his mercy must blot out, and forgive all 
our past transgression. Think of this, and as you 
wish to obtain the mercy and forgiveness of your 
Heavenly Father, be merciful and forgiving your- 
self. 

" Blessed are the pure in heart" You under- 
stand, no doubt, that the heart is the seat of the 
affections. Love and hatred come from the heart ; 
and the emotions of the heart influence the conduct. 
Just as the heart feels we shall speak and act. 
Now if our hearts are pure, that is, if they are free 
from wicked thoughts and feelings, Jesus says we 
" shall see God." We shall enjoy his favor, and 
feel that he is very near to us. We shall love to 
think of him, and shall observe him in all his 
works around us. The sun, and moon, and stars, 
the green earth and moving waters, will speak to 
us of God ; and we shall love to examine the things 
he has made, and admire his skill, and power, and 
goodness. We shall see his hand in all the events 
of our lives. If we enjoy prosperity we shall feel 
that it comes from God, and be grateful to him. 
If our friends die, and we suffer other afflictions, 
we shall see a kind Father behind the cloud that 
hangs over us, and still rejoice in him. Above all 
we shall see God in his work of redemption. We 
shall feel how lost we were when he came to save 
us, and our gratitude will awake, and we shall 
long to be like God, and dwell with him for ever. 



THE PREACHING OP JESUS CHRIST. 85 

And, finally, if we are pure in heart we shall see 
God our Saviour in heaven, and rejoice in his love 
in the ages of eternity. Will you examine your 
own heart, and see if you are among the number 
who shall see God? 

In the next verse Jesus says, " Blessed are the 
'peace-makers; for they shall be called the children 
of God." Peace-makers are those who strive to 
make every body happy around them by keeping 
all in peace. I have known but few peace-makers 
among children. They are apt to take a great 
deal of care of their little companions, and inform 
other children what they say and do, not so often 
for the sake of making peace, as for the sake of 
making contention. Think how much good may 
be done, by striving to keep all your young friends 
in love with each other, and if you see any diffi- 
culties between them, do all in your power to 
restore peace. Your home or your school cannot 
be like heaven if you have any contentions there ; 
and you cannot be the children of God if you do 
not seek to make peace. Peace-makers shall be 
called the children of God, because they are like 
him. God is the author of peace. Jesus is called 
the Prince of Peace ; and wherever his spirit is felt 
it banishes war and strife, and brings peace. 

Jesus next speaks of those who are persecuted 
for righteousness 1 sake ; which means such as are 
sneered at and injured, because they are righteous. 
At this time in our country, christians are not often 
persecuted in the way they were in ancient times. 
Perhaps you have read of the Quakers or Friends 
who were hung in New England many years ago, 
because they chose to worship God in the way 



36 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

that they thought was right; or of Roger Williams, 
who was banished from his home, and driven into 
the wilderness, on account of his peculiar religious 
views. Baptist ministers were whipped and shut up 
in jail in Virginia for preaching the gospel. These 
people were persecuted. Perhaps at this time very 
young persons, who make a profession of religion, 
are sometimes persecuted by their former compan- 
ions. This is because it is not common for such 
youth to join the church, and perhaps the wicked 
ones think they cannot be true christians. I once 
sat down to commemorate the death of our Sa- 
viour with a church where there were several lads 
among the communicants, one of whom was not 
more than eleven years old. My thoughts were soon 
interrupted by a noise in the gallery of the house, 
and looking up I saw some very wicked boys who 
had once been the companions of those who had 
joined the church, creeping around, and trying to 
see the little church members ; and when they got 
where they could see them sitting with the pious 
men and women ; and with a meek and thoughtful 
countenance, taking the bread and wine which 
the deacon handed them, I saw these very wicked 
boys point at them, and make a sneering laugh. 
These boys felt the spirit of persecution ; the same 
spirit which caused the wicked people to stone to 
death the first christian martyr, Stephen, of which 
you can read in the seventh chapter of Acts. 
" For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." They 
shall enjoy the happiness of the righteous. It 
would not be right to seek persecution, but if our 
christian profession and pious life bring upon us 
the ill-will of those who hate religion, it is an evi- 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 37 

dence that we are the followers of Christ; and we 
may therefore take for our own the promises he 
gives his children, and hope to enjoy heaven with 
him hereafter. 

" Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and 
persecute you, and say all manner of evil against 
you, falsely, for my sake." Observe the word 
"falsely" in this passage. When people speak 
against us without cause, but for the sake of re- 
viling us, and injuring the cause of religion, they 
do it falsely ; and though we should pity them, we 
need not be distressed on our own account. Nay, 
so far from being distressed, Jesus says in the 
next verse we should "rejoice, and be exceeding 
glad." That is, rejoice that we are considered 
worthy to be treated thus for his sake, because he 
will not allow his friends to suffer anything on 
earth for which he will not reward them in hea- 
ven. In this manner he says wicked people once 
persecuted the prophets who lived many years be- 
fore; — and they, no doubt, are now reaping their 
reward in heaven. 

Now we have looked carefully through these 
twelve verses. They are the words of the Saviour 
who knew the hearts of men. Think again who 
are the persons that he says are happy. Are they 
the same that you have looked upon as the happiest 
ones around you ? Have you thought when you 
saw people meek, quiet, and benevolent; seeking 
to make others happy ; and seeming to think very 
little of themselves— that such persons were the 
blessed? If you have called the rich and powerful 
the blessed, remember these words of our Saviour, 
and call them so no more. Again, will you look 

4 



38 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

into your own heart, and see if you find these 
pious exercises there. Remember, that the same 
person who is poor in spirit will mourn for sin, and 
be meek, forgiving, merciful, and peaceful ; and 
he will long to be pure in heart, and will hunger 
and thirst after righteousness ; and then he will be 
very likely to be reviled, and if he bears it patiently 
his reward will be great in heaven. These twelve 
verses describe the feelings of a christian. All 
these excellent dispositions are found in some 
degree in the heart of every true follower of Jesus, 
though it is often the case that one of them is seen 
more plainly than the others. Do you find these 
dispositions in your own heart? 



CHAPTER VI. . 

THE LORD'S PRAYER. 
Matt. vi. 9 — 13. 

9. After this manner therefore pray ye : Our Father which 
art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 

10. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it 
is in heaven. 

11. Give us this day our daily bread. 

12. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. ' 

13. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from 
evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, 
for ever. Amen. 

Prayer is speaking to God. In the verses above 
we have a prayer which our Saviour gave his dis- 
ciples as an example for them to copy. He says, 
" After this manner pray ye." Not that we should 
always use these words; but this is the substance, 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 39 

the spirit, the feeling, which should always be felt 
and spoken by us when we pray. Have you 
thought, my young reader, what it is to pray? I 
have seen many children bow their heads in the 
Sabbath school, and repeat together the Lord's 
prayer ; I have seen them kneel with their parents 
around the family altar ; and in the public assem- 
bly I have seen them stand quietly listening while 
the minister offered prayer to God — but it may be 
very few of all these children really thought what 
they were doing or how they should feel. \ Prayer is 
an offering of the heart ; it is telling God the truth. 
We may call it prayer, but the great and holy God 
does not, unless our thoughts and feelings are all 
taken away from earth, and raised up to him in 
our words. When we bow before God, we may 
remember our friends only, to ask him to bless 
them; we may remember ourselves only, to think 
that we are sinful and unworthy, and must be lost 
without his pardoning mercy; but our minds should 
be filled with thoughts of the majesty and purity, 
the mercy and love of our Creator; and we should 
at the moment we are bowing before him, give 
ourselves away to him entirely, and be willing that 
he should do with us, and with all who are dear to 
us, just what he chooses to do. If we come before 
God with this spirit, and with these exercises of 
mind, and pray to him with such feelings, he will 
accept our worship, and listen to our requests. 

We may raise our thoughts and feelings to our 
Heavenly Father even in a low whisper, and he 
will understand and answer us. When your parent 
or minister is offering prayer, you should lift your 
thoughts to God, adopt his words, and express in 



40 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

your mind the same feelings that he utters. If 
you do this you will pray, but if you merely repeat 
the best of words, even the Lord's prayer, without 
thinking what you say, or without raising your 
thoughts to God, it is not an acceptable prayer. 

Now let us attend carefully to the example of 
prayer which Jesus gave his disciples. " Our 
Father" Here we have a name given us by which 
we may address the mighty God ; and what a fond, 
endearing name it is ! Our Father. Every one of 
us may claim this relationship, because he has made 
us all, and we are his children. " In him we live, 
and move, and have our being," and he is watching 
over us every moment, and taking care to supply 
all our wants, as a mother watches over a helpless 
infant to see that it is always comfortable and 
happy. " Who art in heaven" Heaven is the 
place which is filled with the presence of God, 
because all is happiness and love there, but this 
expression does not mean that God is only in hea- 
ven. He is every where. Read the one hundred and 
thirty-ninth Psalm, and you will feel that it is im- 
possible to escape the eye of God, or go to any 
place where he will not be looking at your heart, 
and understanding all your feelings. God is every 
where. " Hallowed be thy name." This means 
that all the inhabitants of the earth should worship 
God, and that his name should never be spoken 
of, or thought of, without fear, and praise, and 
honor. Very many of the beings whom God has 
placed on the earth, men, women, and children, 
appear to forget their Maker entirely. They rise 
in the morning without thanking God for his pre- 
serving care; attend to their business or their 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 41 

pleasure all the day, without lifting one thought to 
him ; and at night they lie down forgetful of Him 
who has been watching over them, and giving 
them all the blessings they have enjoyed ; and who 
might easily call away their spirits, and cause them 
to sleep the sleep of death before the rising of an- 
other sun. Such persons do not hallow the name 
of God. There are others who think of God, and 
often speak of him, but not with reverence. Some 
openly profane his name, others speak of him in a 
very light and careless manner. I once heard a 
little boy in the time of a tempest, while the light- 
ning was flashing around, and the thunder rolling 
through the sky, speaK some wicked words about 
the noise that God was making over our heads. 
He was repeating something that he had heard 
some very wicked men say, and he smiled, and 
seemed to think it was witty ; but I do not think 
he would have thought so, nor would he have dared 
or wished to use such language, if he had felt the 
spirit of the Lord's prayer. This boy did not hal- 
low the name of God. When we pray, one of the 
strong desires of our hearts should be that all men 
should reverence and honor the name of the great 
and holy God. 

" Thy kingdom come" A kingdom has three 
parts, a king, subjects, and laws. The king rules, 
and the people have to obey him. Jesus is king 
in Zion. This whole world, where you and I live, 
belongs to God, but the people have turned away 
from his government, and have chosen to disobey 
him, and indulge their own wicked dispositions. 
When we say " thy kingdom come," if we really 

pray, we desire and ask that all who are opposed 

4* 



42 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST* 

to God on earth may become his friends. And 
when we say, " thy ivill be done in earth as it is in 
heaven" we pray that every thing wicked may be 
driven from the earth by the gospel and spirit of 
God, and that every being here should obey God's 
holy laws, and love, and peace, and happiness be 
enjoyed, and God be praised and honored here 
just as he is in heaven. It should be noticed, that 
before we ask for personal favors, we are taught 
to pray for the spread of the gospel and the con- 
version of the world. This should teach us that 
the kingdom of God should have the first and 
highest place in our thoughts and prayers. " Give 
us this day our daily bread" We should ask for 
such earthly comforts as we daily need, but we may 
not ask for honors, or riches, for this world is not 
our home, and we should not seek to lay up trea- 
sure here. " Forgive us our debts, as we forgive 
our debtors" Our debts are our sins, or our 
transgressions of God's holy law ; and we should 
always feel, especially when we come before our 
Heavenly Father in prayer, that we are sinners, 
and must have his pardon or forgiveness, or be lost 
forever. "Lead us not into temptation; but deli- 
ver us from evil." These expressions are a petition 
that God would keep us from every thing that will 
lead us to forget his commandments, and entice 
us to do wrong. Let us never forget that we have 
within us such evil hearts, that we shall be led by 
every bad example, and continually grow worse 
and worse, if we are not guarded and guided by 
the spirit of God. "For thine is the kingdom, the 
power, and the glory for ever" If we truly feel 
these words when we speak them in prayer, we 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 43 

acknowledge the right God has to reign in us, and 
over us, and through all the world. If we truly 
feel these words, our spirits bow before our Maker, 
and we worship him as the angels do in heaven. 
"Amen." This word at the end of the prayer 
means " May it be so." Jesus therefore said in one 
word as he closed the prayer, " My heart approves 
it all." 

I told you, dear reader, that prayer was an offer- 
ing of the heart to God. This examination of the 
Lord's prayer shows us what kind of offering it 
should be. Are you prepared to pray in this 
manner? If not, still it is your duty to pray, not 
with the lips only, but with the heart. All prayer 
to God must be made in the name of our Saviour. 
God cannot hear and answer the prayers of any 
sinful being, only through Christ as a mediator and 
intercessor. All our offerings to God must be 
presented in His Name. How can you learn to 
pray aright? None but God can teach you. Study 
his word, believe in Jesus as your Saviour. Ask 
him to give you " a clean heart, and a right spirit." 
Ask him to " search you, and try you, and see if 
there be any wicked way in you, and lead you in 
the way everlasting*." You need not fear to come 
to him in the name of Christ, for the Bible says, 
" If ye," that is earthly parents, " know how to give 
good gifts to your children; how much more shall 
your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
that ask him." 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 
Matt. vi. 28, 29. 

8. And why take ye thought for raiment ? Consider the 
lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, neither do 
they spin : 

29. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his 
glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

In the same sermon in which Jesus tells us what 
are the dispositions of christians, and gives us an 
example of prayer, he speaks the words which you 
see above. He had been warning his hearers 
against laying up treasures on earth — that is, 
seeking all their happiness in earthly things, and 
telling them to take no anxious thought about 
their food, when he says, " And why take ye 
thought for raiment?" that is clothing. "Con- 
sider," or think of, " the lilies of the field, how 
they grow ; they toil not, neither do they spin." 
As if he had said, " Look at those sweet flowers 
springing out of the hard, rough ground, and rising 
without noise, labor, or care to open their beauties 
to the sun. Look at their soft-shaded leaves, and 
see how gracefully they bend upon the stem. They 
have taken no pains to be thus beautiful ; and here 
they are, sprinkled all over the face of the wide field, 
for any one to look at and admire. Why should 
you be taking anxious thought about your dress ? 
When your Heavenly Father takes care to clothe 
the humble lily with so much beauty, will he not 
also take care that you have such clothing as you 
need ?" 

44 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 45 

In the next verse Jesus adds, " And yet Solo- 
mon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of 
these." Solomon w&s a very rich king, of whom 
we read in the Old Testament. He lived in great 
splendor, and probably wore the most elegant and 
expensive garments that he could purchase with 
silver or gold. He was so famous for his splendid 
style of living, that a queen who lived in a distant 
country traveled a long journey, with a vast train 
of servants and camels, to see him, and look at 
the wonders of his house ; and when she had ex- 
amined them she acknowledged, that though she 
had heard a great fame of him in her own country, 
the half had not been told her. Yet Jesus says, 
that Solomon in all his glory — in the most splen- 
did period of his life — was not arrayed, or dressed 
so beautifully as one of these modest little flowers. 

And what lesson do you think our Saviour 
taught, when he thus spoke of the lily, and com- 
pared it with the rich king? He knew what feel- 
ings were in the hearts of his hearers, and he 
knew too what would be in the hearts of men, 
women, and children at this time, when we live 
on the earth ; and he intended to show us how 
unnecessary it is that we should be very anxious 
about our clothing ; and to show us also how fool- 
ish and wicked it is to be proud of dress. 

I suppose few, if any, of my young readers have 
ever suffered for fear you should not have comfort- 
able clothing — but I suspect many of you have 
felt very anxious that your clothes should be fine 
and beautiful. Do you think I judge without 
reason? No, not without reason, because I know 
that children and youth generally take pleasure and 



46 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

pride in the same kinds of things ; and as I do not 
know one little friend of mine who does not often 
discover much pride in dress, I think it must be 
the same with all children. Perhaps all persons 
are more ready to commit some sins than others. 
These are called their easily besetting sins, because 
they are so easily led to commit them. I should 
think pride in dress was an easily besetting sin to 
children; and if it is so they should watch very 
carefully against it*. Think for a little while of the 
sin and folly of being proud of dress. All pride 
is sinful. We are poor, dependent creatures, and 
may not call even our breath our own. All we 
are, and all we enjoy, comes from God, and our 
employment should be to praise and worship him. 
But the feeling of pride in our hearts leads us to 
exalt ourselves, and wish to have others notice us, 
and think more highly of us than they ought to 
think. It leads us to forget God whom we should 
love and worship, and make idols of ourselves. 
Pride, therefore, this very pride in dress, may be 
the means of ruining the souls of those who in- 
dulge it. Think of the folly of such pride. We 
take something which God has caused to grow 
very beautiful, or something which he has taught 
man to make beautiful from those things that he has 
first caused to grow, such as the silk-worm's thread, 
the wool from the sheep, or the cotton from the 
pod, and place it on our bodies, and then feel 
proud, as if we deserved praise for wearing the 
beautiful colors and soft silks which the skill and 
goodness of our Heavenly Father have provided 
for us. Do you not see the extreme folly as well 
as wickedness of this pride, and will you not learn 



THE PREACHING OP JESUS CHRIST 47 

from this time to despise and hate the feeling when 
it rises in your breast ? Again, if our dress is ever 
so beautiful, it is wrong for us to be proud of it ; 
but it may be that we do not know what is truly 
beautiful. Perhaps we should have thought Solo- 
mon's splendid dress much more beautiful than 
the lily; but Jesus, who judged right in all things, 
said that the king in all his glory was not arrayed 
like the lily. Dr. Watts, a good man, who wrote 
beautiful hymns for children, has taught them to 
say, 

" The tulip and the butterfly 

Are dressed in gayer clothes than I ; 

Let me be dressed fine as I will, 

Flies, worms and flowers exceed me still. ' 3 

Surely we have no reason to be proud of that in 
which the insects and flowers may excel us. And 
then think how soon these bodies, which we take 
so much pride in dressing, will be laid away in the 
grave, and need no garment but the plain, white 
robe, and this will lead you to take no anxious 
thought about your raiment, but only to desire 
that it may be neat and comfortable. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

Matt. vii. 24 — 27. 

24. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, 
and doeth them, I will liken him unto a a wise man, which 
built his house upon a rock : 

25. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not : for 
it was founded upon a rock. 

26. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which 
built his house upon the sand : 

27. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 
winds blew, and beat upon that house j and it fell : and great 
was the fall of it. 

That part of our Saviour's preaching which is 
called " the sermon on the mount" extends through 
the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of Matthew, 
and contains so much excellent instruction, that if 
no other words of our Saviour had been preserved 
for us, these would have been sufficient to guide 
us to heaven. I hope, my young reader, you 
have read them with attention many times, and 
I hope the Spirit of God has taught you to under- 
stand and feel the truth and wisdom which they 
contain. 

The verses above are the closing part of this 
sermon. After Jesus had been teaching the peo- 
ple how to conduct towards each other, and towards 
their Heavenly Father; how to live a useful and 
happy life, and die a peaceful death, he concludes 
by saying, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of 
mine," &c. Whosoever means any person. Any 
48 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 49 

of the people who were gathered around him on 
the mountain, or any person who reads his words 
now ; you who read this little book, or I who write 
it. " These sayings" means the precepts or doc- 
trine which he had just been delivering to them, 
and which are written for us to read in these three 
chapters. "And doeth ihemP Here is the diffi- 
culty and the danger. It was no doubt very easy 
for those people who heard Jesus preach to listen 
to his words. Perhaps they took pleasure in look- 
ing on his heavenly countenance, and were charm- 
ed with his mild, persuasive voice; and it may be 
they were even pleased with his pure, benevolent 
doctrine while they heard him speak, but when 
they went away to their homes, I fear many of 
them did not do as he directed them. It is easy 
for us to read these sayings of the Saviour, and 
while we read them our hearts acknowledge that 
they are good, and we know it would make us 
happy to obey them, but do we remember to do 
them at all times, and in all places? If we do 
these sayings we shall indulge in no anger ; we 
shall swear not at all; we shall love, not our friends 
only, but our enemies also ; we shall be kind and 
obliging to all around us, and do by others just as 
we would like to have them do by us ; we shall not 
give half our thoughts to the world, and half to 
God, but it will be our first desire to please our 
Heavenly Father. This would be doing the say- 
ings of our Saviour ; and he says of the person who 
does them, "I will liken him unto a wise man 
which built his house upon a rock." To liken, is 
to compare, or represent one thing by another. 
The Saviour was so kind and condescending that 

5 



50 THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 

he often taught his hearers about spiritual things, 
such as they could not easily understand, by com- 
paring them with natural things, such as they saw 
around them. At this time, to make his instruc- 
tions plain to those who heard him, and plain for 
you and me who now read them, Jesus used the 
comparison of the two houses, one built oil a rock, 
and the other on the sand. 

A house, you know, is a dwelling to keep us 
safe and comfortable. It is not built for one day 
merely, but we prepare it for night and day, for 
winter and summer, for the fair and the stormy 
weather ; and here we take our furniture and our 
families, and call it our home. Should not such 
a building be placed on a firm foundation ? The 
wise man, our Saviour says, built his house on a 
rock, and when the rain descended, the winds 
blew, and the floods came, though they beat upon 
that house it fell not, because it was founded upon 
a rock. Now, my dear reader, the truths of the 
Bible, especially the doctrine of Christ, and the 
instructions of our Saviour, are a rock on which 
you may build your spiritual house — your house 
for eternity. You may hereafter encounter many 
storms ; the floods of adversity may beat upon you; 
but if you are built on this rock, if your faith and 
hope be fastened to this foundation you can never 
fall, because Jesus will love, protect, and keep 
you safely by his mighty power. 

In the twenty-sixth verse, Jesus compares such 
persons as hear his sayings and do them not, to a 
foolish man who built his house upon the sand 
This man, too, designed his house for a place of 
safety and comfort. He carried thither his dearest 



THE PREACHING OF JESUS CHRIST. 51 

friends, and his most valuable property. He meant 
it should long stand for his secure and happy home; 
but, O how unwise he was to build it on the sand! 
In the calmest days of sunshine it was no more 
pleasant than the wise man's house, which he had 
placed on a rock, and when the first heavy wind 
came it began to totter, and ere long, when " the 
rains descended, the floods came, and the winds 
blew, it fell, and great was the fall of it" 

Let us think what this falling house, with all its 
beauty and grandeur, with all its vast treasures of 
life and happiness within, is made to represent. 
The loss of an immortal soul ! Jesus teaches us 
by this familiar illustration that those who love 
and obey the precepts of the gospel, that is, those 
who believe in Jesus and take him for their Sa- 
viour, will be safe and happy through all the trials 
of life, and even in the hour of death ; but those 
who trust in any other righteousness than that of 
Jesus Christ will be lost for ever. No wonder that 
Jesus said of the foolish man's house, " Great was 
the fall of it." To build our hopes of heaven on 
a false foundation, and find ourselves deceived at 
last; to feel that our soul, which can never die, 
has taken its final portion with the lost, must be a 
fall so fearful that even the Saviour's illustration 
does not enable us fully to realize it. 

Dear children, if you live long on earth, you 
will find many things to entice you to build for 
eternity on the sliding sand. The vanity of the 
world, your gay companions, and your own wicked 
hearts, will lead you to depend on some other 
foundation than the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 
Besides this, you are in danger of neglecting all 



52 JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 

religion, and thus scarcely thinking on what foun- 
dation your house is placed until the storm begins 
to beat, and then it is too late. Now, while you 
are very young, trust in the Saviour, and ask him 
to guide you through life, and prepare you for the 
happiness of heaven. 



CHAPTER IX. 

c ESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 

The Parable of the Sower. 
Matt. xiii. 1 — 8. 

1. The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by 
the sea- side. 

2. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, 
so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude 
stood on the shore. 

3. And he spake many things unto them in parables, say- 
ing, Behold, a sower went forth to sow : 

4. And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way- side, 
and the fowls came, and devoured them up. 

5. Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much 
earth ; and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no 
deepness of earth : 

6. And when the sun was up they were scorched ; and 
because they had no root, they withered away. 

7. And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprung up 
and choked them. 

8. But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, 
some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold. 

You here perceive, my young friends, that Jesus 
seated himself by the sea-side, that is, by the shore 
of the sea of Galilee; and that " great multitudes 
were gathered together unto him." In the last 
chapter you may learn that the Pharisees sought to 



JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 53 

destroy the Saviour, but great numbers of the peo- 
ple who lived in that country did not feel like the 
Pharisees. They believed that Jesus was a great 
and good Teacher, though I suppose they did not all 
know that he was the Son of God. They felt that 
he spoke with wisdom and love, and believed that 
he was able to work miracles, therefore they fol- 
lowed him from place to place, and listened to 
hear when he spoke, and asked him to heal them 
when they were sick. So many people collected 
around the Saviour as he sat on the sea-shore, 
that he went into a ship and sat, while the whole 
multitude stood on the shore. 

You have thought of Jesus as he sat on the 
mountain side, preaching the gospel of peace to 
the multitude ; now think of him, still ready to do 
good — anxious that all who came might hear his 
word; leaving the land, and going into a vessel in- 
stead of a pulpit, so that the people might gather 
along the shore, and all be able to hear. The 
sea-breezes gently play around the ship, while his 
sweet voice echoes across the moving waters, and 
the waves ripple along the pebbly shore, — while 
men, women and children stand eagerly gazing 
on his mild countenance, as they treasure up the 
gracious words that fall from his lips. 

" He spake many things to them in parables." 
Perhaps you do not understand what a parable is. 
It is a kind of story, natural in its parts, and told 
to show, in a plain and interesting manner, some 
important truth. In our country it is not common 
to speak in this manner, but in Asia, where the 
Saviour lived, it was very common. The parable 
is that of the sower, and shows, by the seed on 

5* 



54 JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 

four kinds of ground, the effect of preaching and 
teaching on four different classes of hearers. " Be- 
hold, a sower went forth to sow" &,c. I once read 
to a little friend of mine, and said to him, do you 
understand this parable 1 "O yes," said he. He 
was a very small boy, and I thought he might be 
mistaken, and so I said, are you sure of it ? He 
answered, " Yes, I am sure, because I found it 
explained in the same chapter." I was glad that 
the dear child had read his Bible with so much 
attention. Have any of my readers observed the 
explanation which our Saviour gives of this para- 
ble? If you have, I am glad that you too read 
the Bible with attention; if not, I wish you would 
now take the Bible, and turning to the thirteenth 
chapter of Matthew, read from the eighteenth 
verse to the twenty-fourth. 

When the farmer sows the seed which produces 
grain, he throws it around in different directions, 
and as he scatters it, some falls in good places, 
and some in bad. This seed which the sower 
casts around, our Saviour says, represents " the 
word of the kingdom," that is, the gospel which 
he taught, and his disciples taught in his name. 
The fowls which came and devoured the seed re- 
present the Wicked One. That evil being who first 
brought sin into the world, and who now is seek- 
ing to make us all as wicked as himself; he catches 
away the truth from the hearts of all those who are 
not anxious to keep it in their minds, just as a hun- 
gry bird devours the grain he finds scattered on the 
ground. We are told that some seeds fell upon stony 
places, and they soon sprang up, but when the sun 
was up they were scorched; and because they had 



JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 55 

no root they withered away. This represents such 
persons as are glad to hear the gospel when it is 
first preached to them : but they do not really love 
it. They receive it with joy, but are not truly 
converted, and when a time of trial comes, they 
fall away, they are offended, forsake the cause, and 
go back into the world. The seed that fell among 
thorns, represents such people as have their under- 
standings and consciences convinced of the truth 
of the gospel, but suffer the cares of this world, and 
the deceitfulness of riches, to choke the word, so 
that it becomes unfruitful. They at first listen to 
the gospel, and it appears to take some root in their 
minds, but they love the riches, pleasures, and 
honors of this world so well that they cannot be 
willing to become disciples of the meek and lowly 
Saviour ; and so they give up the hope of heaven 
for worldly good. 

Jesus tells us that some seed fell on good ground 
and brought forth fruit, not all the same quantity, 
but all fruit of the same kind, and such as the 
sower approved. These represent true christians, 
such as really love and obey the Saviour. The 
fruit is those graces of the Spirit and good works 
which show that they endeavor to follow the ex- 
ample of Jesus, and make every body happy around 
them. " Some thirty, some sixty, and some an 
hundred fold." The christian, whose heart is full 
of love to God, will so strive to honor and serve 
him that he will bring forth much fruit; while- 
others may truly love him, and yet not feel so much 
love as to lead them to be always active; besides, 
some have more health, some more talents, and 
some more influence, and some more money than 



56 JESUS TEACHING IN PARABLES. 

others, and these help them to do good. This 
fruit is much like children's obedience to their 
parents. A very affectionate child will be watching 
every opportunity to do that which will please his 
father, and cause him to look on him with a smile, 
and if he has an active mind, and enjoys good 
health, he can do more to serve and honor his 
father than another child can who does not enjoy 
these blessings. 

Among those who were standing on the shore 
to listen to this parable, perhaps there were some 
of all these four kinds of hearers. Of those who 
read this parable now, no doubt there are some of 
each of these classes, Jesus did not speak of it 
for the instruction of that people only; but for you 
and me. He knew that we should live at this 
time, and he knew what kind of hearts we should 
have, and this was written to warn us against de- 
spising and neglecting the " Word of the king- 
dom." To which of these four classes of hearers 
would you choose to belong? It is of little con- 
sequence which it is, if it be not those represented 
by the good ground that brought forth fruit. You 
are among those that hear the word if you have 
never read any more of the Bible than you find in 
this little book. Will you soon forget what you 
read, or what you hear from the minister and your 
pious friends; and so belike the ground in which 
there was no deepness of earth for the seed to take 
root in? Or will you suffer the amusements of 
life to fill your mind, so that there will be no room 
in your heart for Jesus, and no time left to devote 
to his service ? Will you not rather choose to be 
among those who love the words of Jesus; those 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 57 

who believe in him, and trust in his righteousness, 
that you may in early life bring forth fruit to his 
honor and glory. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

The Leper Cleansed, 
Matt. viii. 1- — 3. 

1. When he was come down from the mountain, great 
multitudes followed him. 

2. And, behold, there came a leper and worshiped him, 
saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 

3. And Jesus put forth his hand and touched him, saying, 
I will ; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was 
cleansed. 

If you have read the New Testament through, 
or if you have read but a few chapters in the first 
part of it, you have found some account of the 
miracles which Jesus performed. Have you thought 
what a miracle is? I will try to tell you. It is 
an event contrary to the common course of nature, 
and one which the power of man cannot cause. 
Perhaps if you have read the Acts of the Apostles, 
you will remember that Paul and Peter and other 
Apostles wrought miracles ; but did you observe 
that ^hey did it in the name of Jesus of Nazareth? 
And never since the days of the Apostles have the 
followers of Christ been taught to perform miracles 
in his name. I told you a miracle was not like a 
common event. When our friends are sick, the 
physician gives them medicine, and we use every 



58 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

means in our power to restore them to health. If 
God blesses these means they recover, but this is 
not a miracle, because it is the common method 
which God has taught us to use, and one which 
he often blesses. But if a person should cure our 
sick friend in a moment, without using any means, 
it would be a miracle; and we should know that 
the person who performed it must be very power- 
ful; we should think that Jesus had come back to 
earth, or had sent one of his holy Apostles to work 
in his name. 

We sometimes have violent winds, but they do 
not rise in a moment, nor die away in a moment; 
so when the sailors who are out on the ocean per- 
ceive the wind to be rising, they take in the sails 
of the vessel, and prepare every thing for the gale. 
If she ride safely over the mighty billows, and 
suffer no injury from the storm, she is not preserved 
by a miracle; but because God has caused the wind 
to go down as usual, and has blessed the means 
which he taught the sailors to use, to save them- 
selves from sinking in the deep. Now if some 
person in the midst of this fearful gale had spoken 
to the wind, and by a word had hushed its fury, 
so that the waves were quiet, and the winds were 
still in a moment, it would have been a miracle, 
and we should have been convinced that the per- 
son who thus controlled the winds must be the 
God who made them, or one of his servants to 
whom he had given special power. 

I was once walking out on a very windy day 
with a little boy who was about five years old. He 
had just begun to read the Bible, and his mind 
seemed much impressed with the miracles of which 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR- 59 

he read in the New Testament. As the wind beat 
strongly against us so that we could hardly walk, 
the little boy kept saying very soberly, "Peace, be 
still, peace, be still," but after a moment he turned 
to me, saying, " The wind will not obey me, but it 
obeyed Jesus Christ." This child felt, though he 
was very young, that the Saviour must be very 
powerful, because he could make the winds obey 
his words : so the people felt who saw his mira- 
cles ; and so we should feel when we read of them. 

The Saviour performed these wonders, in the 
first place, to convince us that he is the mighty 
God; and if we can read of them and not feel con- 
vinced of this, it is because we are hard-hearted 
and unbelieving. In the second place, he wrought 
miracles to do good. He loved to make people 
happy, and when he cured sick people, and opened 
the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf, by 
a miracle, he gave them ease for pain, light for 
darkness, and hearing for deafness, in a moment. 
If you now understand what a miracle is, and 
also the most important reasons why our Saviour 
wrought so many miracles while he was on earth, 
we are ready to examine the verses above. 

We are told that a great multitude followed 
Jesus when he came down from the mountain, 
and among them was a leper; which means a 
person diseased with the leprosy. We know but 
little about the leprosy in our country, but in the 
eastern part of the world it was a most loathsome 
and distressing disease. In many cases physicians 
could not cure it, and the persons who were af- 
flicted with it were obliged by the law to go away 
from their friends, and live in some desolate place, 



60 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

that others might not take it of them. Then, after 
suffering a great deal, sometimes for many years, 
they must die alone, with no friend to watch over 
them and soothe the last hours of life. A person 
having this fearful disease preying on his body, 
had heard of Jesus Christ. It may be he had lis- 
tened to his " Sermon on the Mount," or he had 
heard of some miracle which he had wrought. He 
knew that Jesus was both good and great, for we 
are told in the second verse that he came and wor- 
shiped him, saying, " Lord, if thou wilt thou canst 
make me clean." It is very probable that he came 
trembling along, thinking as he approached the 
crowd which surrounded Jesus, a O, how happy I 
should be if this dreadful disease, which will soon 
bring me to the grave, was cured, but I dare not 
hope that this benevolent stranger will notice me 
among this vast multitude, even if I can get near 
enough to speak to him." But he felt the pain 
and distress of the leprosy, he thought of his past 
sufferings, and looked forward to the anguish of 
future years; he believed that Jesus was able to 
cure him; and as he pressed his way onward he 
thought, " I must die if I do not ask Jesus to heal 
me, and I cannot meet anything worse than death 
if he refuse;" and thus he came and knelt before 
the Saviour. And now think of the compassionate 
Jesus, who never had any home on earth, but who 
spent his life in going about over mountain, valley, 
and lake, to do good to the family of man. Think 
how he turned to the poor leper as he cried, " Lord, 
if thou wilt thou canst make me clean," and 
stretching forth his hand to touch him, immedi- 
ately answer ed, "J will, be thou clean." What 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 61 

could the anxious leper hope for more than this? 
He might have feared much, but he could hope 
for nothing more. What joy thrilled through his 
heart as he heard the ready answer, "I will;" 
and the next moment he was a well man. "And 
immediately his leprosy was cleansed." A moment 
before his eye was heavy, and his cheek pale ; his 
limbs were feeble and weary ; and it was heavy 
labor even to draw his breath : now his counte- 
nance sparkled with joy; his blood flowed with 
quiet and healthful motion ; and his limbs felt the 
sprightliness of childhood. A moment before he 
was expecting to be banished from his friends, and 
pine away in loneliness ; now he could carry them 
the joyful intelligence that he was well. Does not 
this miracle show you very plainly both the power 
and the mercy of Jesus Christ? 

I knew a young lady who became a teacher in 
the Sabbath school, while she had thought but 
little of the character and works of Jesus Christ. 
As she was teaching her class from the New Tes- 
tament, she was led to think much of the miracles 
recorded there. Her mind was impressed with the 
mercy and benevolence of the Saviour, and while 
speaking to the class the thought came into her 
mind, that she had never seen any account that 
Jesus ever refused to heal any distressed person 
who came to him ; and then proposed to her class 
to look through the four first books during the 
next week, on purpose to see if there were any 
such account. While examining the evangelists 
through in this way this lady began to think how 
lovely and excellent the blessed Jesus is, and she 
saw that it was very ungrateful and wicked not to 

6 



62 THE MIRACLES OP OUR SAVIOUR. 

love him with all the heart. She saw that she 
was a great sinner, and therefore she knelt before 
the mighty and compassionate Saviour, and asked 
him to pardon her sins, and give her a new heart 
and a right spirit. Jesus taught her to love him, 
and after that she was better prepared to be a 
Sabbath school teacher. May this study of the 
miracles of Jesus Christ lead my young readers to 
love and serve him. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE MIRACLE OF GIVING SIGHT TO THE BLIND. 

Matt. ix. 27—30. 

27. And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men fol- 
lowed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have 
mercy on us. 

28. And when he was come into the house, the blind men 
came to him : and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am 
able to do this ? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. 

29. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to 
your faith be it unto you. 

30. And their eyes were opened. 

In the eighth and ninth chapters of Matthew, 
we have accounts of a great number of miracles 
which Jesus wrought. He cured diseases, cast out 
evil spirits, stilled the tempest, and even raised the 
dead; — but we will now turn our attention to a 
miracle in which he opened the eyes of the blind. 
As Jesus was passing through the country, and 
people were coming to him from all directions, 
two poor blind men heard of him. 

Have you ever thought what it is to be blind ? 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR, 63 

Just close your eyes for a moment, and suppose 
that they are sealed up for ever. Never again 
could you behold the light of the sun, nor look 
forth on the beautiful gardens and fields that sur- 
round your home. Never could you read the 
Bible, or any good book you love. Never, never 
behold the dear countenances of your parents, or 
the joyous faces of your brothers and sisters. You 
could not go and come as you now do in all the 
careless freedom of childhood, but you must feel 
your way with slow and cautious steps, or be led 
by the hand of another. Yet though all this would 
be very distressing, you would be able to remember 
much that you have learned, and you ce^ild think 
how the earth, and the friends you love, once 
looked; but those who are born blind can think of 
nothing that they have ever seen. I once knew a 
family in which there were eight children, and 
four of them were born blind. Could you have 
looked into their mother's room, and seen the four 
blind children sitting sad and solitary, while their 
brothers and sisters were flitting away to school; 
or could you have seen them eagerly listening to 
catch the first sound of their voices on their return, 
and then have seen them asking those who had 
been to school, to tell them all they had learned, 
that they might learn it too; — I am sure you 
would feel that it is a great affliction to be blind, 
and a very great blessing to enjoy sight. 

Now think of the blind men that followed Jesus. 
They could hear as quick as others; and all around 
them was the sound of many voices. Some were 
crying out with distress, and pressing their way 
through the crowd to come before the Saviour 



64 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

Others were passing by them who had been to 
Jesus, and were now shouting with joy that they 
had been cured. Perhaps the happy leper, as he 
returned to his friends, spoke in hearing of the 
blind men, of the wonderful cure that Jesus had 
wrought for him. All this would cause them to 
feel still more anxious to come to the Saviour, and 
yet they could not hasten, for the next moment 
they might run against some person or thing, and 
be thrown prostrate on the ground. How distress- 
ed they must have felt! Never before had they 
heard of one who could open the eyes of the blind, 
and now they feared he would pass away before 
they couH approach him, and they could never 
come near him again. Yet there was one thing 
they could do : they could raise their voices, and 
this they did, crying, "Thou Son of David, have 
mercy on us." Son of David was one name by 
which the Saviour was called, because he was de- 
scended from David, a king, and good man, of 
whom we read in the Old Testament. 

We learn from the twenty-eighth verse that the 
blind men did not overtake the Saviour till he 
came into a house, and then he said to them, 
" Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said 
unto him, Yea, Lord." They had not followed 
him with the cry, "Have mercy on us," without 
believing that he was able to do that which they 
desired. "Then touched he their eyes, saying, 
According to your faith be it unto you." That is, 
according to your belief in my power and willing- 
ness to heal shall you receive. " And their eyes 
were opened." O, how much happiness instantly 
flowed from this one act of the benevolent Saviour ! 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 65 

How did these men rejoice in his power and com- 
passion. Now they might return to their homes 
full of joy; and though they would not know the 
faces of their dearest friends, they would find them 
by their voices, and soon learn to look with plea- 
sure on their countenances. And then, how much 
happiness they would find in examining the works 
of God in the new and interesting scenes around 
them; and how much pleasure in learning to read, 
and gaining a knowledge of God from his Word. 
We w T ho have always enjoyed sight, do not realize 
how much happiness we derive from the use of 
our eyes, nor am I able to describe to you the 
blessing which Jesus imparted when he gave sight 
to the blind; but if any one should read this who 
was once blind, he will know it well. In these 
days people who are born blind are sometimes 
cured without a miracle, because learned men have 
examined the cause of their blindness, and have 
very skilfully taken off a film which in some cases 
grows over the sight. I once saw a little blind 
boy, whose friends were taking him to the " Eye 
Infirmary ," hoping his sight might be restored. 
If he has obtained his sight, and I hope he has, 
perhaps he will read this, and he can tell his little 
friends far better than I can, how happy the blind 
person is who receives his sight : yet there is this 
difference ; that little boy, or any one whose sight 
is restored in these days, must suffer a painful and 
dangerous operation before he can see ; but Jesus 
cured these men by a touch. 

Jesus, my young friend, pitied the infirmities of 
our bodies, and loved to give comfort and happi- 
ness to those who were distressed ; but this was not 

6* 



66 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

his great errand on earth. He came from heaven 
to earth to heal our spiritual diseases, and cure our 
spiritual blindness, and though I know not that I 
write to any who have been naturally blind, I know 
all my readers have been, or now are, spiritually 
blind. That is, as the Bible says, we are all born 
in sin. We have no sight to perceive the beauty 
and excellence of holiness. We do not love the 
Saviour, who is " the chiefest among ten thousand, 
and the one altogether lovely." This blindness 
Jesus came to cure. Will you not come to him as 
the blind man did? Ask him in prayer to show 
you how excellent and lovely he is, and make you 
his meek and humble follower while you live, and 
prepare you to dwell with him when you die. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE MIRACLE OF HEALING THE WITHERED HAND. 
Matt. xii. 10 — I6< 

10. And behold, there was a man which had his hand 
withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal 
on the Sabbath days ? that they might accuse him. 

11. And he said unto them, Whatman shall there be among 
you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the 
Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out 1 

12. How much then is a man better than a sheep ? Where- 
fore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days. 

13. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. 
And he stretched it forth ; and it was restored whole, like as 
the other. 

14. Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council 
against him, how they might destroy him. 

15. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 67 

thence : and great "multitudes followed him, and he healed 
them all ; 

16. And charged them that they should not make him 
known. 

It appears that our Saviour sometimes visited 
the Jews' meeting-houses, which were called 
Synagogues, and he was in one of these places at 
the time that he wrought the miracle mentioned 
in the verses above. "There was a man which 
had his hand withered." He was affected by some 
distressing disease which had caused his hand to 
wither or shrink up, and now it hung useless by 
his side. Do you think Jesus will pity this man, 
as he did the leper and blind man ? O yes, Jesus 
not only healed those who were suffering much, 
but all who were diseased. We are not told that 
the man even asked the Saviour to cure him, but 
it is said in the thirteenth verse that Jesus said to 
the man, " Stretch forth thine hand. And he 
stretched it forth, and it was restored whole like 
as the other." It was the wonderful power of 
God which gave strength to the hand which a 
moment before was entirely useless. Here again 
our Saviour did good, and produced happiness 
by working a miracle. But I wish you to notice 
particularly how some of the people were affected 
by the benevolent deeds of our Saviour. Perhaps 
you have thought while you have been reading of 
his kindness and compassion, "If I had seen him 
I know I should have loved him. I should have 
asked him to be my friend, and make me well if 
I was sick, and give me a new heart, and teach me 
how to pray. I should have delighted to journey 
with him around the country, and see Mm make 



68 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR^ 

the people happy by healing their diseases." I hope, 
my young reader, that you would have been among 
the number who did believe in Jesus, and love him, 
and desire to serve him — but do not feel too sure 
that you would. There were many who lived in 
those days that called themselves good people, and 
yet were offended at the mighty works of Jesus, 
and did not believe he was the Son of God. 

In the tenth verse, after it is mentioned that 
there was a man with a withered hand, we are 
told, " They asked him, saying, Is it lawful to 
heal on the Sabbath day? that they might accuse 
him." They, refers to the Pharisees, who are 
mentioned before in the chapter. These were 
a sect, or denomination among the Jews, who 
thought themselves very good people, much better 
than others, because they were strict to observe 
certain ceremonies; but Jesus, who knew their 
hearts, saw that their goodness was all outward 
show, while their feelings towards him, and towards 
every thing good, were much more wicked than 
those of others who did not profess to be good. 
These Pharisees, it appears, had been watching 
to get some opportunity to accuse the Saviour, 
and have him put to death; and now, when they 
saw him cure a man on the Sabbath, they thought 
they had found sufficient reason. Poor, wicked 
men ! How vile their hearts must have been to 
wish to destroy him who went about doing good, 
him who came from heaven to earth to save the 
children of men from being lost for ever. Observe 
how wisely Jesus answered them. The Pharisees 
thought it right to take a sheep out of a pit on the 
Sabbath day, but a man, woman, or child, they 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 69 

said should not be healed on the Sabbath, unless 
they were in danger of immediate death. This 
was a part of their religion, but Jesus showed them 
that a man was of far greater value than a sheep, 
and that it was lawful, because it was right, to do 
well on the Sabbath day. Then, without fearing 
the wicked Pharisees, he healed the withered hand. 
We should think, if they w T ere not convinced by 
the words of Jesus that he was the Son of God, 
they must have been by the miracle which he 
wrought in their presence ; yet it was not so ; their 
hearts were too stubborn to believe, and we learn 
from the fourteenth verse that they " went out and 
held a council against him how they might destroy 
him." Ah, little did they think t*hat he whose 
death they were seeking was not only listening to 
their words, but looking into their wicked hearts 
also ! 

Jesus had come into this world to die for sin- 
ners, and he knew that the Pharisees and many 
others would hate him, but this did not take away 
his pity and love. When he had finished his 
preaching, and performed all his miracles, he 
would be ready to die on the cross by the hands 
of wicked men — die for his worst enemies, even 
for the proud, self-righteous Pharisees — but the 
time had not yet come; many more sick people 
must first rejoice in his healing mercy, and many 
more sinners rejoice in believing, through listen- 
ing to his gracious words * therefore, as we are 
told in the fifteenth verse, " He withdrew himself 
from them;" that is, he went away from that part 
of the country where the Pharisees were plotting 
to destroy him ; but he did not hide himself from 



70 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

those who were sick and distressed, for we are 
told in the same verse that great multitudes fol- 
lowed him, and he healed them all. Not one was 
sent home rilled with sorrow and disappointment, 
but all rejoicing in his mercy and power. In the 
sixteenth verse we learn that he charged those 
whom he healed that they should not make him 
known. As he was not yet ready to be offered 
up, he did not wish the Pharisees, or any other 
wicked people, to be enraged, by hearing of the 
wonders he wrought, therefore he charged those 
whom he cured not to talk much about it, and tell 
who had healed them, and then his enemies would 
not know where he was, and could not interrupt 
his good works. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE MIRACLES OF WALKING ON THE WATER, AND 
STILLING THE TEMPEST. 

Matt. xiv. 22—33. 

22. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get 
into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while 
he sent the multitudes away. 

23. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went 
up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening 
was come, he was there alone. 

24. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed 
with waves ; for the wind was contrary. 

25. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto 
them, walking on the sea. 

26. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, 
they were troubled, saying, it is a spirit ; and they cried out 
for fear. 

27. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of 
good cheer j it is I ; be not afraid. 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 71 

28. And Peter answered him, and said, Lord, if it be thou, 
bid me come unto thee on the water. 

29. And he said, Come. And when Peter was comedown 
out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 

30. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; 
and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 

31. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and 
caught him, and said unto him, thou of little faith, where- 
fore didst thou doubt ? 

32. And when they were come into the ship, the wind 
ceased. 

33. Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped 
him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God. 

We read in the first of the verses above, that 
Jesus constrained his disciples, which means that 
he urged them, to go before to the other side of 
the Sea of Galilee ; while he should send away the 
multitudes of people that followed him. His love 
and compassion were so great, and he found so 
many distressed beings in our sinful world, that he 
could scarcely find time for prayer and rest. Al- 
though our Saviour was the Son of God, he had 
a body like our own, and felt weariness and hun- 
ger just as we should. At this time he had been 
healing the sick, and feeding the multitude during 
the day, and now he wished to be alone ; therefore, 
he dismissed the people to go to their homes, and 
sent his disciples across the lake without him. 
Jesus had no home on earth where he could go 
to find comfort and rest, for he says in the ninth 
chapter of Luke, " The foxes have holes, and the 
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man 
hath not where to lay his head; 55 but he loved to 
resort to the quiet mountain for rest and prayer, 
and we learn from the twenty-third verse that when 



72 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

the evening was come he was in the mountain 
alone. 

Perhaps you would think it a great misfortune 
to be left alone for one hour. Among all my little 
friends, I do not recollect one who is fond of being 
alone. I hope some of them pray in secret, but 
this occupies but a short time, and they soon come 
forth from their closet, and join again in the con- 
versation of their friends. Our Saviour loved to 
be alone, and I think if all of us, even children, love 
to be alone sometimes, that we may think of God 
and of our own hearts, we shall become more like 
him. When we are called away by death, our 
dearest friends cannot go with us. We must die 
alone. Is it not well then sometimes to feel as if 
no other friend was near but Jesus? for in the 
hour of death no other friend can comfort us. 

We have in the New Testament many accounts 
of our Saviour's prayers. In one place a long 
prayer is recorded, which he offered just before 
his death, and this shows that he did not go away 
from his disciples nor the multitude, because he 
wished to forget them ; for he there prays for others 
more than for himself. Never did he forget the 
sinful beings whom he came to save. Never did 
that love grow cool which led him to leave heaven, 
and share the sorrows of earth. 

At this time, though he sought to be alone for 
a season, he was still watching over his disciples. 
In the twenty-fourth verse, we learn that the ship 
in which they had embarked, was now " in the 
midst of the sea tossed with the waves." It is 
probable that they were alarmed, for it is a fearful 



THE MIRACLES OP OUR SAVIOUR. 73 

thing to be out in a frail vessel, reeling and tossing 
over the mighty waves; and to feel that the next 
moment we may be dashed against the rocks, and 
find ourselves struggling for life in the midst of 
the angry waters. Jesus knew the feelings of 
his disciples, and so he left his retirement on the 
mountain, and at the fourth watch of the night, 
which is nearly morning, he came to them " walk- 
ing on the water." This, you know, was a miracle, 
for no one but he who made the waters could cause 
them to bear up a person as he walked over them. 
It does not appear that the disciples had one 
thought that their best friend was so near, but 
when they saw Jesus coming towards them they 
were still more alarmed, and even cried out with 
fear, as children do when they see some danger 
near. They supposed they saw a spirit, that is, a 
being from another world. Perhaps they thought 
it was a spirit from the wicked world, and cer- 
tainly such a being would be a very unwelcome 
visitor; but they need not have feared, neither 
should you and I fear such beings if we are good, 
for God will not suffer them to injure us. 

How mistaken they were to think they had cause 
for alarm when Jesus was coming so near! It is 
sometimes so with us when God comes very near 
to us to take away our friends by death, or when 
he causes us to endure severe sickness; we are 
alarmed, and do not at first realize that it is our 
Heavenly Father. Yet it is our best friend who 
is approaching so near us, and though we may not 
feel sure of it at the time, he is doing that which 
is best for us. 

Notice in the twenty-seventh verse, how tenderly 



74 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

Jesus spoke to his disciples. He did not wait to 
keep them long in fear, wondering who he was, 
but " straightway," that is immediately, said, " Be 
of good cheer," which means be cheerful and hap- 
py. "It is I." It is your Saviour who loves you, 
and who has power to protect you from all danger. 
"Be not afraid." Now their fears were all gone 
in a moment; and Peter was so joyful and coura- 
geous that he wished to go out on the water to 
meet the Saviour. Jesus said unto him, "Come," 
and it appears that he did walk on the water until 
he saw the wind boisterous, when he was afraid, 
and as he began to sink, he cried out, " Lord save 
me." It was well for Peter that Jesus was ready 
and willing to save immediately. He had come 
hastily down from the ship, and ventured himself 
on the mighty deep. The wind was boisterous, 
the waves rolled fearfully around him, and now he 
felt himself fast sinking beneath them. If Jesus 
delayed to help him, but for one moment, it would 
be too late. But his compassionate Saviour was 
always ready to save. He needed not that the 
sinking Peter should call on him a second time, 
but "immediately stretched forth his hand and 
caught him," saying, " O thou of little faith, where- 
fore didst thou doubt?" When Peter first asked 
to walk on the water, and when he first came down 
from the ship, I suppose he trusted in Jesus to 
give him power to perform a miracle. He knew 
that Jesus could enable him to walk on the water, 
as well as he could walk on it himself; and he 
went forward trusting in the power of his almighty 
Saviour ; but when he saw the wind boisterous, 
his faith, that is his trust in Jesus, became weak ; 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 75 

his fears were stronger than his faith, and that 
was the reason he began to sink. None of us 
should expect Jesus to save us, unless we trust in 
him, and believe that he is able to do for us all 
that we need for this world, and for the world to 
come. 

Jesus called Peter a person of little faith. He 
had some trust in the Saviour, though it was not 
so strong as it should have been. He yielded to 
his fears when he began to sink, and yet he had 
sufficient trust in Jesus to cry, " Lord, save me." 
If we feel that we are sinners, and need the pity- 
ing love of Jesus, though our trust in him may be 
faint, he will pity our weakness, and stretch forth 
his powerful hand to save. 

In the two last verses above, we learn that when 
the Saviour and Peter were come into the ship, 
the wind ceased, and the people who were in the 
ship came and worshiped Jesus, saying, "Of a 
truth thou art the Son of God." They had seen 
him coming to them in the fourth watch of the 
night, walking on the moving water as if it had 
been the solid land. They had seen him enable 
Peter to walk on the water also, and when he be- 
gan to sink they saw him stretch forth his hand 
and save him. Now they saw him calm the tem- 
pest in a moment, and hush to rest the raging of 
the mighty billows. Many of those who were in 
the ship had before seen the Saviour's wonderful 
works ; but every new miracle was a new proof to 
them that he was God, and they desired to acknow- 
ledge him as the greatest and the best of beings. 
"They worshiped him. 55 That is, they bowed 
d/6wn before him with reverence and awe, saying, 



76 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

"Of a truth," most certainly, "thou art the Son 
of God." We should worship none but God. Our 
parents, and other kind friends we should love, 
honor and obey, but it would be wicked to wor- 
ship them Our Heavenly Father we should love, 
honor, and obey — but towards himself he requires 
more than this, we should worship him. All his 
creatures to whom he has given reason are wicked 
if they do not worship him. Does this account of 
the wonderful works of Jesus Christ lead you to 
say to him in your heart, as the disciples did, " Of 
a truth thou art the Son of God?" 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE MIRACLE OF FEEDING THE MULTITUDE. 

Matt. xv. 32--38. 

32. Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I 
have compassion on the multitude, because they continue 
with me now three days, and have nothing to eat : and I will 
not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way. 

33. And his disciples say unto him, Whence should we 
have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a 
multitude ? 

34. And Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have 
ye ? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes. 

35. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the 
ground. 

36. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave 
thanks, and brake them, and gave to his disciples, and the 
disciples to the multitude. 

37. And they did all eat, and were filled : and they took 
up of the broken meat that was left, seven baskets full. 

38. And they that did eat were four thousand men, besides 
women and children. 

It appears that our Saviour spent much of his 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 77 

time, delivered many of his sermons, and perform- 
ed most of his miracles, in the open air ; and often 
in what is called a desert place, that is a place 
where there are few inhabitants. For this, there 
might have been several reasons. The Pharisees, 
you know, were seeking to destroy him, and as 
he was not ready yet to give himself up into their 
hands, he chose to avoid them. Another reason, 
perhaps, was that the people might all be accom- 
modated who came to listen to him. No building, 
or any open field among the houses, would be 
large enough to contain the thousands of people 
who followed the Saviour. He was at this time 
on one of the mountains near the Sea of Galilee, 
and this was a convenient place for all the people 
to stand, so that they could listen. 

You learn from the first of the verses above, 
that Jesus said to his disciples, "I have compas- 
sion on the multitude, because they continue with 
me now three days, and have nothing to eat." The 
people had left their families, and their business 
to go into the wilderness, and while they were 
seeing his works, and enjoying his heavenly teach- 
ing, hour after hour had passed when they scarcely 
knew it ; and now, three days had gone by since 
they left their homes. They had probably taken 
some provisions with them, but these were all used 
up, and they expected to obtain nothing more till 
they could return. Some of them had walked 
many miles from their home ; some we know had 
brought their sick friends with them, for we have 
an account in the thirtieth verse of the same chap- 
ter, that " they brought those who were lame, blind, 

dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them 

7* 



78 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

down at Jesus' feet, and he healed them, and 
some, it may be, had brought their little children 
in their arms for Jesus to give them his blessing ; 
all had now been a long time away from the com- 
forts of their homes, and yet they must take a 
tedious journey before they could rest and refresh 
themselves. Jesus pitied these people, as he pitied 
all who were suffering, and he said to his disciples, 
"I will not send them away fasting, (that is without 
taking food,) lest they faint in the way." 

The disciples were astonished that he should 
think of supplying so great a multitude with food, 
out in the wilderness, where there were no shops 
to buy, and no gardens to gather it from. Jesus 
asked how much food they had there. They an- 
swered, "seven loaves, and a few little fishes." 
This was very little, probably not enough for them- 
selves; but when Jesus had commanded the mul- 
titude to sit down, he took the loaves and fishes, 
and gave thanks. 

Here, my young reader, is an example which 
you should be careful to imitate. Perhaps your 
father, or the friend with whom you live, offers 
thanks to God, and asks his blessing on your food 
whenever you sit down to the table, which his 
love and care have supplied — if so, do not fail when 
he is speaking to raise you heart in devout grati- 
tude to your Heavenly Father. If not, if your 
friends collect around the table, and partake of the 
good things which God has given you, without 
expressing thanks to him, you need not therefore 
neglect or forget to thank him. Never forget that 
God looks at the heart, and will accept your silent 
thanks, though he will not be pleased if you forget 



THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 79 

him when you take your food, for he has said by 
his apostle, "Whether ye eat or drink, or whatso- 
ever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 

When Jesus had given thanks, he brake the 
bread and gave it to his disciples, and they passed 
it all around among the vast congregation of people 
seated on the side of the mountain. "And they 
did all eat and were filled." Not one of all the 
number was neglected; not one desired more. 
After they had eaten, seven baskets full of the 
broken food were gathered up. In one account 
of such a miracle as this, we are informed that 
Jesus said to his disciples, "Gather up the frag- 
ments that nothing be lost." If he had not said 
this, we should know by the example given us 
here that it is not right to waste food, even though 
it be but the broken remains of our meals. Surely 
children will notice this example of the blessed 
Saviour, and be very careful to imitate one which 
it is so easy for them to follow. 

Until we come to the thirty-eighth verse, we do 
not know how numerous the company was which 
Jesus fed with seven loaves and a few little fishes. 
"Four thousand men, besides women and chil- 
dren." Perhaps you do not realize how many 
people this would be. It is as many as there are 
in a large village. Enough to make more than 
four hundred families. All these were supplied 
with food, without any time or labor for preparing 
it. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 
thereof;" and the Saviour could just as easily give 
the people food prepared to eat, as he could cause 
the grain to spring from the ground, and make 
the fire and water for us to cook with ; but it is 



80 THE MIRACLES OF OUR SAVIOUR. 

not common for him to do this, therefore it was a 
miracle. 

Does not this account show you the love, and 
care, and compassion of God? Does it not lead 
you to feel grateful for the ten thousand proofs of 
his loving kindness and tender mercy by which 
you are surrounded? Besides the common bless- 
ings, without which you could not be comfortable, 
think of the many things you have to enjoy which 
you could do without, and still be happy. But 
your Heavenly Father not only intends that you 
shall be happy, but very happy; therefore he made 
the flowers to perfume your path, and the birds, 
and the rustling leaves, and the bubbling brook to 
delight your ears. Therefore he dressed the green 
earth in beauty, and spread above your head the 
spangled curtain of the heavens. Therefore he 
made the music of your mother's voice, and the 
sweet sjniles of your brothers and sisters, and the 
hallowed tones which convey your father's coun- 
sels. 

(( At work, at play, at home, abroad, 
How often I should think of God ! 
And all the time I ought to try, 
To please my Father in the sky." 



CHAPTER XV. 

QUR SAVIOUR'S RULE OF FORGIVENESS. 

Matt, xviii. 21, 22. 

21. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall 
my brother sin against me, and I forgive him ? till seven 
times ? 

22. Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven 
times : but, until seventy times seven. 

From the first of the verses above, we learn 
that one of our Saviour's disciples came to him 
with a request that he would inform him how often 
he should forgive his brother, if he sinned against 
him. By his brother, he meant any person with 
whom he associated; and, by sinning against him, 
doing that which injured him. At the same 
time that he asked the question, he seemed to fix 
on seven as the greatest number of times he ought 
to grant forgiveness. Peter was a christian, and 
we cannot suppose he wished to cherish revenge. 
No doubt he felt disposed to be forbearing and 
forgiving ; but the love, and pity, and forgiveness 
of the Saviour exceeds that of the best of men, 
" as far as the heavens are higher than the earth," 
See what a rule he gave to his disciple, and to 
me, and you also. "I say not unto you, until 
seven times, but, until seventy times seven." If 
the same person offends you hundreds of times, 
you should forgive him, and feel towards him just 
as though he had never injured you. 

I have had very large acquaintance with chil- 
dren of all ages, and it seems to me there is nothing 
81 



82 our saviour's rule of forgiveness. 

more needed among them than forgiving disposi- 
tions. To forgive your companion is to excuse 
him entirely for having injured you, and not wish 
to have him punished, nor desire even to remember 
that he has ever done wrong. But children often 
seem anxious to have their companions corrected, 
if they suppose they have done them the least in- 
jury. I have known a boy even choose to be 
punished himself, that his companion might be 
punished too, rather than settle the difficulty be- 
tween them by forgiveness. Little children, three 
or four years old, will sometimes remain sullen 
and stubborn for several minutes, before they can 
be persuaded to kiss each other, forget their little 
quarrels, and go lovingly to play together. This 
shows that an unforgiving spirit is deeply rooted 
in our nature, and that children ought, as soon as 
they are able to read the Bible, to study the rule 
which Jesus has given us. 

One of my dear little friends, who has gone 
before me into eternity, used to remember this 
rule. He was once standing by me when I was 
talking with a little boy who had been striking his 
companion, because, as he said, he had hurt him. 
I was trying to lead him to understand and feel 
that he should not injure another because he had 
injured him, when the child whom I first mention- 
ed, said to me, " he should forgive him if he hurt 
him seventy times seven." Where did you get 
that rule? said I. "In the Testament/' he an- 
swered. "It is our Saviour's rule." It gave me 
much pleasure then to know that my little friend 
remembered so well the words of Jesus Christ, and 
it gave me still greater pleasure to observe that he 



our saviour's rule of forgiveness. S3 

was not one of those children who are unwilling 
to forgive. 

It is very common for children to say, when 
called to account for injuring their companions, 
"Well, he injured me." As if they were entirely 
innocent, and fully excused for doing wrong to 
one who has done wrong to them. But this is a 
rule they have made, and not the Saviour. He 
says, " Resist not evil." " Do good to them that 
hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use 
you." " Forgive," not seven times, but " seventy 
times seven." Do you think, my dear reader, that 
you will ever be able to follow these rules? You 
will find it very hard, if you have a companion who 
is so wicked as to wish to make you unhappy, to 
keep forgiving him, and trying to love him as well 
as if he had never offended you. Yet if you would 
obey the Saviour, and have him for your friend, 
you must endeavor to forgive; and if you find your 
heart hard, and unwilling to obey the rule, you 
should ask God to give you a forgiving spirit. 

Remember how often you do wrong, and need 
the forgiveness of others. Your parents, your 
brothers and sisters, and all with whom you asso- 
ciate, it may be, find much in you which needs to 
be forgiven; but especially think how often you 
offend your Heavenly Father, and need his for- 
giving love. All sin is exceedingly offensive to 
God. He cannot approve of any action or thought 
which is not pure, entirely free from sin ; but our 
thoughts, and every action of our lives are defiled 
by sin ; so that if God dealt with us, as children 
sometimes wish their companions to be dealt with, 
we should now be suffering punishment, instead 



84 our saviour's love for children. 

of enjoying mercy. But God deals with us in great 
mercy, and never, in this life, punishes us as our 
transgressions deserve; although he is grieved that 
we are so in love with sin, and so willing to disobey 
him. If we are sorry for our sins, and believe in 
Jesus, and give ourselves away to him, he will not 
remember that we have offended him, and will love 
us as freely as if we had never been his enemies. 
Ask Jesus to give you his spirit; and make you 
obedient to all his rules, and then you will be kind, 
affectionate, and forgiving to all around you. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

OUR SAVIOUR'S LOVE FOR LITTLE CHILDREN. 
Matt. xix. 13 — 15. 

13. Then there were brought unto him little children, that 
he should put his hands on them, and pray ; and the disciples 
rebuked them. 

14. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them 
not, to come unto me : for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 

15. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence. 

We have seen that multitudes of men and wo- 
men were constantly coming to the Saviour, as he 
went about doing good, and we know that children 
were among the vast number that he supplied with 
food on the mountain ; but we have not yet noticed 
anything that Jesus said to little children. You 
will learn from the verses above that his love and 
mercy were not all bestowed on grown people. 
" There were brought unto him," that is to Jesus, 
"little children." It is probable the parents, or 



our saviour's love for children. 85 

some other kind friends to the children, led or 
brought them to Jesus. Many of my readers 
know well that if the Saviour were now on earth 
their fond, pious parents would wish to lead them 
to him. Many, I hope, have parents who daily 
ask the blessed Saviour in prayer to look in pity 
on you, and make you his obedient children. These 
parents, though they lived more than eighteen 
hundred years ago, and lived too many thousands 
of miles from this country, loved their children as 
your parents love you; and the little ones were 
the same kind of playful, thoughtless little crea- 
tures as we see every day ; sometimes doing wrong, 
and sometimes right, and each of them needing 
that Jesus should give them a new heart and 
right spirit. We know not the age of these chil- 
dren. In Mark they are called young children, 
and in Luke infants ; but neither of these expres- 
sions is used in Scripture to denote particularly 
either very little children, or those of considerable 
age. They only mean any age of childhood. 
Perhaps some of these little ones were of the age 
of some who are able to read this book. 

It appears that the disciples thought it very im- 
proper to bring children to Jesus, and they rebuked 
or reproved those who brought them. I suppose 
they thought it very intrusive to bring little chil- 
dren to the mighty Saviour, and request him who 
was able to work miracles to notice them ; and it 
may be that the parents were hastening away with 
their children, afraid that Jesus too would rebuke 
them. But Jesus was not like man. He loved 
every human being. The lame, the blind, the 
sick, the tender little ones all shared in his love 

8 



86 our saviour's love for children. 

and compassion. And Jesus said, " Suffer little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them not." 
As if he had said, " Do not send little children 
away from me. Let them gather around me. I 
love them. I love to take them in my arms, and 
teach them, and give them my blessing." And then 
he adds, "Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
This means perhaps, that such persons as are 
christians, and finally enjoy heaven, show while 
on earth mild, teachable dispositions; and look up 
to their Heavenly Father to guide them in all 
things, as little children depend on their parents 
for direction. 

In the fifteenth verse it is said, " He laid his 
hands on them, and departed." In the same ac- 
count given by Mark it is said, "And he took 
them up in his arms and blessed them." He gave 
the children the blessing which their parents asked 
for them. In the thirteenth verse it is said they 
brought them "that Jesus should put his hands on 
them and pray. We learn from the Old Testa- 
ment, and from other ancient books, that the Jews 
thought very much of having the ceremony of lay- 
ing the hands on the head with prayer performed 
by a prophet, or pious teacher. Perhaps it was 
this kind of blessing that the friends of these chil- 
dren sought for them ; but it may be that they be- 
lieved that Jesus was able to give them new hearts, 
and prepare them for the happiness of heaven; 
and it may be that the Saviour bestowed on them 
this blessing, even if their friends asked only that 
they might enjoy health, and the happiness of this 
world. 

We are sure that Jesus blessed them, and we 



our saviour's love for children. 87 

know that any blessing from the wise and holy 
Saviour is very precious — but as we look back on 
this lovely group of little ones, and see them gather- 
ing around the meek, benevolent Saviour, we can- 
not bear to think that their friends sought for them 
any blessing less than the best of blessings — " the 
pearl of great price." Of all the children who 
have ever lived on earth they were the most highly 
honored; and we cannot bear to think that they 
should be brought to the Saviour's arms without 
the prayer being offered by their friends, (if they 
were too young to pray for themselves) that they 
should receive his spirit, and become his children. 
And when we think of you, dear children of this 
christian country, children of the Sabbath school, 
we cannot bear to think that you should live, where 
you hear the doctrines of Jesus spoken by his 
ministers, and have his word to read every day, 
and are invited to ask his blessing in prayer, 
without seeking first of all that best of gifts which 
he alone can bestow. Jesus says, " Seek first the 
kingdom of God and his righteousness." And 
the wise Solomon, who was inspired by God, says, 
" Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy 
youth." 

Your pious friends, your Sabbath school teacher, 
and the minister who labors for your good, have 
all commended you to Jesus. You have been 
brought to him by the strong desires of your 
friends, as these little children were, that he may 
bestow on you his blessing — yet do not depend 
on this. See what encouragement this account 
affords you to come to him yourself. The same 
kind Saviour who took these children up in his 



88 THE RICH YOUNG MAN. 

arms, and blessed them, though the disciples 
frowned upon them, is no less willing to receive 
you. He is watching over you every day, and 
giving you all the good things you enjoy. Will 
you not lay down your book at this moment, and 
go away where none but God can see you, and 
ask the Saviour to take you for his child, and 
make you such an one as he can love. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE RICH YOUNG MAN. 

Matt. xix. 16 — 22. 

16. And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Mas- 
ter, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life ? 

17. And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good ? 
there is none good but one, that is, God : but if thou wilt 
enter into life, keep the commandments. 

18. He saith unto him, Which ? Jesus said, Thou shalt 
do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt 
not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 

19. Honour thy father and thy mother : and, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbour as thyself. 

20. The young man saith unto him, All these things have 
I kept from my youth up : what lack I yet ? 

21. Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and 
sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have 
treasure in heaven : and come and follow me. 

22. But when the young man heard that saying, he went 
away sorrowful : for he had great possessions. 

A person came to Jesus calling him " Good 
Master," and desiring to be informed what good 
thing he could do to obtain eternal life, or be 
taken to heaven when he died. From the twen- 
tieth and twenty-second verses we learn that this 



THE RICH YOUNG MAN, 89 

was a young, and a rich man, and from the ac- 
count of the same circumstances in Luke we learn 
that he was a ruler, or a person of more than 
common importance among the Jews. Let us 
think for a few moments of this interesting young 
man. He had all that he needed to procure such 
happiness as this world can afford. He migh 
spend his time in gathering instruction from books 
or in traveling to see the wonders of the world 
He looked forward to many happy years to come, 
for he was yet young, and had not felt any weari- 
ness of life, nor begun to suffer from disease and 
disappointment. Yet in the midst of his worldly 
enjoyment, no doubt the thought sometimes cross- 
ed his mind that by and by the day of death would 
come, and he must leave all his riches, and go 
away into another world. He heard of a religious 
teacher who was able to direct the people of this 
world to the place where all is peace and joy, and 
no fear of death can enter. This teacher was Jesus 
Christ. The young man turned aside from the 
pleasures of life, and followed the multitude which 
constantly pressed around the Saviour. He made 
his way through the crowd, and coming near to 
Jesus, addressed him as you have read above. 

The expression, "Good Master," was one which 
the Jews commonly used when addressing a reli- 
gious teacher, and the young man did not use it 
because he knew and believed that Jesus was 
truly good. Our Saviour knew this, and he there- 
fore said to him, "Why callest thou me good!' 1 
Not that Jesus was unwilling to be called good by 
those who spoke sincerely ; but this man did not 
know his real character; he said "good master'* 



90 THE RICH YOUNG MAN. 

in a flattering manner, as he was accustomed to 
speak to the proud Pharisees, who loved flattery. 
But the benevolent Saviour, though he did not like 
the manner in which the young man addressed 
him, still attended to his question, saying, " If 
thou wilt enter life keep the commandments.'' 
The Old Testament, you recollect, was at this time 
written, and the Jews had it in their houses, the 
young man therefore knew what the law of Moses 
required, but he wished to know what part of it 
he must keep. Jesus was so kind as to repeat to 
him several of the commandments which we have 
in the twentieth chapter of Exodus. The young 
man answered, " All these things have I kept from 
my youth up ; what lack I yet?" Perhaps he really 
thought he had kept all the commandments, and 
Jesus did not dispute him, but he proves to us, 
and I think the young man too must have seen it, 
that he had deceived himself, and was far from 
being as good a man as he thought himself. He 
thought he had done many good works, and was 
nearly perfect ; but if he lacked anything, Jesus 
could inform him what it was, and he could per- 
form it, and soon fit himself for heaven. But this 
is far from being the way to prepare for heaven. 
We should be constantly doing good deeds, but 
we should not expect to purchase heaven by them. 
Jesus says, " I am the way, the truth, and the life." 
We must love Jesus, and trust in his righteous- 
ness, if we Would have eternal life. 

In the twenty-first verse the Saviour says, " If 
thou wouldst be perfect, go and sell that thou hast 
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure 
in heaven; and come follow me." It is repentance 



THE RICH YOUNG MAN, 91 

and faith in Jesus that prepares us for heaven, but 
our works show whether we have this faith in our 
hearts. Jesus says, " If ye love me keep my com- 
mandments," and this young man soon showed 
that he had not the love of Jesus in his heart, be- 
cause he was not willing to obey him. " But 
when the young man heard that saying, he went 
away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." 
Now we see that though he thought he loved his 
neighbor as himself, he was not willing to part 
with his possessions for the benefit of others. To 
give up his riches, and follow Jesus with the poor 
disciples, and have no home on earth, and no em- 
ployment here but that of doing good, was more 
than he was willing to do, even though he was 
assured that he should have treasure in heaven. 

I suppose my readers are all much younger than 
this man was, and it may be you have not yet begun 
to love riches, for children think less of great 
possessions than of pleasure and amusement; but 
if you live long you will find that the love of money, 
and of all the fine things which money can pur- 
chase, is a sin that clings close to the heart, and 
often causes people who give themselves up to it, 
to turn away from religion as the rich young man 
turned away from Jesus. 

"He went away sorrowful," disappointed that 
he could not obtain eternal life by doing some 
good deed, and still enjoy his riches. He was not 
sorry that his heart was not right with God, but 
sorry that the Saviour's rules were so strict. Poor 
young man ! Does not your heart pity him as you 
think how he turned away from Jesus, and went 
back to seek all his happiness in the fading plea- 



92 THE RICH YOUNG MAN. 

sures of this world. He was one whom God had 
blessed with all the good things of this life, and 
now he had been favored to see the Redeemer of 
the world, and even to speak with him, and ask 
him the way of salvation. Had he been willing 
to be taught of Christ, as a little child, is taught 
by its parents, he would soon have found it easy 
to give up his possessions and follow him. Jesus 
would have given him a disposition like his own, 
meek, lowly, and contented; and he would have 
found the happiness of serving God far greater 
than all he had enjoyed with his riches. But he 
made a wretched choice. Is my reader willing to 
follow such an example? 

You will find- many temptations besides the 
love of money to draw your heart from God, but 
do not forget that you must leave all and follow 
Jesus if you would have treasure in heaven. You 
cannot follow him as this man might have done, 
by going around with him to do good, but you 
can give yourself to him, and ask him in prayer 
what he would have you do ; and you can follow 
just where his word, and the good spirit he puts 
in your heart, may direct. The Bible says, "What 
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world 
and lose his own soul." To lose the soul, my 
dear children, is to lose every thing. It is to go 
away into the world where wicked beings are, and 
be eternally miserable without one hope of ever 
leaving that dreadful abode. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
Matt. xiv. 1 — 12.; 

1. At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of 
Jesus, 

2. And said unto his servants. This is John the Baptist ; 
he is risen from the dead ; and therefore mighty works do 
show forth themselves in him. 

3. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and 
put him in prison, for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's 
wife. 

4. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have 
her. 

5. And when he would have put him to death, he feared 
the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 

6. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of 
Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. 

7. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her what- 
soever she would ask. 

8. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, 
Give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. 

9. And the king was sorry : nevertheless for the oath's 
sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded 
it to be given her. 

10. And he sent and beheaded John in the prison. 

11. And his head was brought in a charger, and given to 
the damsel ; and she brought it to her mother. 

12. And his disciples came, and took up the body, and 
buried it, and went and told Jesus. 

While Matthew is writing for us an account 
of the preaching and miracles of our Saviour, he 
has occasion to tell us of the death of John the 
Baptist. This, I hope you recollect is the good 
man whom God sent to prepare the way for Jesus; 
and he who baptized the Saviour in the river Jor- 
dan. Above, we are told that Herod the tetrarch, 
that is a ruler of the country, heard of the fame 
93 



94 DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

of Jesus, and he did not know he was, but thought 
it must be John the Baptist risen from the dead. 

We have not a particular account of the life of 
John, but we know he was a good and faithful 
minister, who suffered a violent death in conse- 
quence of giving a just reproof to a wicked man. 
From the third verse we learn that Herod had laid 
hold on John, and bound him and put him in 
prison, for Herodias' sake, his brother's wife, whom 
he had taken for his wife. John had plainly and 
courageously told him that it was not lawful for 
him to have another man's wife. Wicked people 
are not often willing to be told of their sins, and 
this enraged Herod so that he confined John in 
prison; though he did not then dare to put him to 
death, because he feared the people, who thought 
John a very good man. 

After the pious minister had been taken from 
his friends, and shut up in the gloomy prison, it 
appears from the sixth verse that Herod's birthday 
was kept. Those who are rich and powerful can 
easily command the celebration of birthdays, or 
any other outward ceremonies of honor ; but money 
cannot purchase, nor power command, the love 
and respect of those who know them — nothing 
can secure these but a lovely deportment, and kind, 
benevolent actions. I doubt not many more peo- 
ple truly rejoiced in the birth of John the Baptist, 
who was that day pining in his solitary prison, 
than there were that could rejoice in the birth of 
Herod the tetrarch: but there were many in the 
palace of the ruler to feast and dance, and appear 
to be very happy in celebrating his birthday, and 
among these was a young lady who was the 



DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 95 

daughter of Herodias. This young lady amused 
Herod so much by her dancing, that at the mo- 
ment when his feelings were so excited that he 
hardly knew what he said, he promised with an 
oath to give her anything she should ask him. 

No doubt she was both surprised and delighted 
with such a promise, but it seems she was ready, 
being before instructed by her wicked mother, to 
ask that she might have the head of John the 
Baptist brought her in a charger, or kind of dish. 
It is probable that Herodias had been cherishing a 
spirit of revenge towards the good man who had 
reproved her for her sin, and now she rejoiced in 
an opportunity to gratify it. There was nothing 
in all the dominions of Herod that she so much 
desired as the head of John the Baptist. 

Herod had made a very rash and foolish pro- 
mise, and we learn from the ninth verse that he 
was sorry; but because he had taken the oath, and 
the people who sat at meat with him had heard it, 
he commanded it to be given her. Herod hated 
John, but because he feared the people, or from 
some other reason he did not wish to take his life 
at that time; and when he made the promise, I 
suppose he had no idea that a young lady would 
ask such a cruel thing. Yet it appears that he 
felt bound by his own wicked promise rather than 
by the law of God. A wicked promise should be 
repented of and broken, or given up, just like any 
other sin. It is going still deeper and deeper into 
sin to oblige ourselves to keep a promise which 
we see was wrong. Herod had long been adding 
sin to sin, and now he had promised to be a mur- 
derer. O miserable man! Think of him, and 



96 DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

Herodias, and her daughter, as the executioner 
was sent out to bring them the head of John the 
Baptist. True they were in a splendid palace, 
surrounded by every thing costly and elegant, and 
attended by servants who were ready to obey even 
the glance of their eye, and followed by pretended 
friends, always ready to smile and flatter, to obtain 
their favor ; but do you think these wicked people 
were happy? Would you be willing to take the 
place of either of them, even that of the young 
lady, the most innocent of the three ? Would you 
not rather be in the place of the pious servant of 
the Lord who was about to have his head severed 
from his body? 

Let us think for a moment how it was with him. 
He was sitting in a dark lonely prison, perhaps 
without bed or chair to rest on, and with scarcely 
food enough to eat; bound, perhaps so that he 
could not walk the length of his cell; but the 
heart you know is the seat of happiness or misery, 
and do you think John felt guilty and distressed 
in mind? O no. The good man, I doubt not, 
was rejoicing in God, and thinking of the happi- 
ness of heaven. He could not, like Jesus, know 
when his work on earth was finished, but he could 
feel perfectly willing that his Heavenly Father 
should take all the care of him, and if it was His 
will he chose to go out and preach again to the 
people ; and if he had done all his duty on earth, 
he was ready at any moment, and by any means, 
to leave his body on earth, and go to live with 
Jesus. When the executioner sent by Herod ap- 
peared in his prison, and told him to lay his head 
on the block, he knew his work on earth was 



DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 97 

done, and we cannot suppose that he delayed one 
moment to obey him. True he was called to en- 
dure a distressing death, but a few moments at 
most would close his sufferings, and his happy 
spirit would be received to heaven, and his pained 
body would lie senseless and unfeeling, not even 
knowing whether it was surrounded by the cold, 
damp walls of a prison, or the magnificence of a 
palace. 

We learn from the tenth and eleventh verses 
that the executioner went and beheaded John, and 
brought his head and gave it to the damsel, and 
she brought it to her mother. Would you, my 
young reader, have been in the place of Herodias' 
daughter at this time? She has danced with so 
much grace and sprightliness as to please the 
king, and now she receives the reward he pro- 
mised her — the head of a good man severed from 
his body, and placed in a charger for her to carry 
to her wicked mother. Could she enjoy this re- 
ward? She was young, and perhaps beautiful 
and accomplished, but she must have had a hard- 
ened, cruel heart, if she could bear to take the 
vessel which contained the bleeding head, and 
carry it to her mother. O, I should think she 
could never wish to dance again; and through 
her whole life it seems to me she must have 
thought with solemn, awful feelings of that good 
man. 

The wicked spirit of revenge which Herod and 
his wife had cherished towards the faithful minis- 
ter was now gratified. In the midst of a birthday 
feast they had paused from their mirth and revelry 
to look at the good man's head, and now they were 

9 



98 DEATH OF JOHN THE BAP1IST. ' 

sure that he was dead, and could not speak to 
reprove them again. But do you think they were 
happy in their sin, because they knew John was 
not watching over them? No, indeed. Their 
hearts told them that God still watched all their 
thoughts and actions, and they felt guilty and dis- 
tressed in the midst of their splendid pleasure. 
This I know is the case with all wicked people, 
but I am sure that Herod felt guilty, because it is 
said in the second verse that he said of Jesus, 
" This is John the Baptist, risen from the dead." 
He knew nothing about the Saviour, but when he 
heard of his mighty works, and of his preaching 
so much like John's whom he had beheaded, he 
feared that he had risen from the dead. It was 
his guilty feelings that made his thoughts turn 
towards John with the fear that he had returned 
to earth. Poor, wicked ruler ! He knew not that 
God had sent one far mightier than John, his be- 
loved Son, who came to reprove all the world of 
sin, and to die that the vilest sinners might be 
saved. 

Much instruction may be drawn from this ac- 
count of the death of John the Baptist. See how 
one sin leads on to another. Herod was at first 
guilty of breaking the seventh commandment, and 
when he was reproved for this, he was at length 
led on to commit murder, and thus he broke the 
sixth commandment also. We may, too, learn 
from this account, that neither our birthdays or 
any other days should be given up to feasting and 
amusement. We may notice our birthdays, and 
celebrate their return by grateful acknowledge- 
ments to our Heavenly Father for the mercy that 



DISPLEASURE OP THE CHIEF PRIESTS. 99 

has sustained us; and by enjoying the cheerful 
society of our friends, who on these days love to 
present us tokens of their affection; but we had 
better never know when our birthday returns, 
than keep it as the wicked Herod's was kept. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE DISPLEASURE OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS. 
Matt. xxi. 14, 15. 

14. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, 
and he healed them. 

15. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the 
wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the 
temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David ! they were 
sore displeased. 

The passage above does not present our Saviour 
on a desolate mountain, with a multitude gathered 
around him; nor sitting on a vessel's deck, with 
his hearers listening on the shore ; but in the tem- 
ple at Jerusalem, a most splendid building in the 
midst of a fine city. But still he is the same 
benevolent Saviour, seeking the happiness of all 
around him. The blind had felt their way into 
the temple, and drew near to ask his healing 
power; the lame had crept slowly over the spa- 
cious court, and climbed the lofty steps, to present 
their diseased limbs before him. Neither of them 
returned with disappointed hopes. Jesus healed 
them. 

The assembly that now surrounded our Saviour 
was not all of such people as desired that he should 



100 DISPLEASURE OF THE CHIEF PRIESTS. 

bless them, or those who wished to receive in- 
struction from him. There were some who felt 
the need of his miraculous power, and these came 
to seek his favor ; there were some who knew that 
he was the Son of God, and these came to worship 
and praise him as they ought. You will learn from 
the second of the verses above, that among those 
who offered praise to the Saviour, were children 
who cried in the temple, " Hosanna to the Son 
of David." Hosanna is an expression of praise, 
honor, and worship, here addressed to Jesus, whom 
they called the Son of David. O, how suitable 
that the arches of this lofty temple, built for the 
worship of God, should resound with the sweet 
voices of these infant worshippers ; praising him 
who so loved them as to take them in his arms 
and bless them, who so loved them as to die to 
save them. Happy children! thus employed in 
early life. Whether they died in childhood, or 
lived to mature years, we have reason to hope that 
they were blessings to the world, and partakers of 
the joys of heaven. But there was still another 
class of hearers in the temple. The chief priests 
and scribes. These were both teachers of the 
Jews' religion. 

The Jews were once the people whom God 
highly favored. He gave them his law and taught 
them by his spirit, so that they were the wisest 
and best people in the world; but after many years 
the Jewish nation departed from the law of God, 
and became a very wicked people — more wicked 
because they had enjoyed so many privileges, and 
chose to neglect and misimprove them all. At 
the time that Jesus came on earth even their 



DISPLEASURE OP THE CHIEF PRIESTS. 101 

ministers were vile persons, and yet they professed 
to be very righteous, and appeared to think none 
so good as themselves. 

As I was reading the New Testament through 
with one of my little friends, as we came to the 
last part of one of the gospels, he exclaimed in 
astonishment, " The chief priests and scribes do 
not like anything that Jesus does." This was very 
true. These Jewish teachers seemed to be con- 
stantly watching for some occasion to condemn 
the Saviour. Although they studied the ancient 
scriptures, which foretell the coming of Christ, and 
describe him meek and lowly, as he was; coming 
into the world to do good, and die for lost men ; 
yet it appears that they did not understand what 
they read. They expected the Saviour to come 
to reign on earth with great worldly power, as a 
mighty king; and therefore, though they even saw 
the astonishing miracles which Jesus wrought, 
they would not believe that he was the true Sa- 
viour, because he was so humble in his appear- 
ance. But if they did not believe that he was the 
Saviour of the world, they could not help seeing 
that great multitudes followed him, and no doubt 
they felt afraid he would have more influence over 
them than they could have. This they could not 
bear, because they loved authority, and they were 
used to having the common people obey them. 
When they saw the wonderful things that he did, 
and the children praising Jesus in the temple, 
" they were sore displeased." The feeling which 
was in their hearts was not like that which the 
disciples felt when they rebuked those who brought 
little children to Jesus. Neither was it a slight 

9* 



102 LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM. 

displeasure which would soon be forgotten. It 
was a malicious enmity towards the Saviour which 
led them to be planning how they could destroy 
the friend of sinners ; the friend of all the sick and 
needy; the friend of little children. What wicked 
hearts they must have had! O give me the spirit 
which would lead me to join the children in crying 
Hosanna to the Son of David; but let me not par- 
take of such a spirit as led the haughty scribes 
and priests to despise, reject, and condemn the 
Son of God. 



CHAPTER XX. 

OUR SAVIOUR'S LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM. 
Matt, xxiii. 37—39. 

27. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, 
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would 
I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gather- 
eth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. 

38. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 

39. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, 
till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of 
the Lord. 

Jesus had been preaching in the country of 
Judea, and gathering disciples from among the 
common people. His fame had spread far around, 
and many, very many, had found him to be a 
mighty Saviour, who could not only heal the dis- 
eases of the body, but give joy and peace to the 
mind. Now he had been working miracles, and 
proclaiming the gospel of peace in the city of Je- 



LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM. 103 

rusalem. This was the capital of Judea, the city 
where the Jews went three times a year from all 
parts of the country to worship God after their 
manner. Here stood the vast and beautiful tem- 
ple, one of the most noble buildings ever erected 
in any country. This temple was at first built by 
Solomon, the Son of David, and dedicated to the 
worship of God by solemn prayer and peace- 
offerings, which continued for seven days. Here 
too were many priests and scribes, who should 
have been devoted to the service of God, and 
ready to welcome his Son, Jesus Christ, whom 
they had taught the people to expect. But Jeru- 
salem, with its thousands of inhabitants, was now 
a wicked city. Jesus had found in the house of 
God merchants who had brought goods there to 
sell, and were making, as he said, his "Father's 
house a house of merchandise." The priests, 
instead of believing in Jesus, and rejoicing that 
he had come on earth, were " sore displeased" at 
his miracles, and at the praise and worship offered 
him by the children. And Jesus says in the first 
of the verses above, that the people of Jerusalem 
killed the prophets, and stoned those that were 
sent unto them. For this great wickedness he 
lamented over them in the most pathetic language. 
While the inhabitants of this splendid city were 
despising the merciful Saviour, and indulging in 
all their sinful pleasures, he could look forward a 
few years, and see the fearful destruction that 
would fall upon them. We learn from history 
that about forty years after Jesus uttered this la- 
mentation, the city was destroyed in a most awful 
manner. To punish them for their sins God suf- 



104 LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM^ 

fered a mighty army to come upon them, and lay 
the city in ruins, and destroy even the beautiful 
temple: while the poor Jews, who had rejected 
and crucified the Saviour, and persecuted and put 
to death many of his disciples, suffered greater 
distress than any people on earth ever suffered. 
Jesus could foresee all this when he said, O Jeru- 
salem, Jerusalem! In Luke it is said he wept 
over the city as he uttered these words. 

Think of the Saviour weeping over these wicked 
people to whom he came with a message of pardon 
and mercy, but they would not listen to him. He 
knew that there was an hour coming in which he 
himself had much to suffer, but for himself he did 
not weep. He wept for the impenitent Jews, who 
were not only bringing upon themselves dreadful 
sufferings in this life, but by their " hardness of 
heart and blindness of mind," were preparing 
themselves to receive everlasting punishment in 
the world where wicked spirits dwell. "How 
often would I have gathered thy children together, 
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
and ye would not." See what a beautiful figure 
Jesus uses to show us how he would have protected 
the people of Jerusalem. You have seen the kind 
and careful hen call her helpless little ones, and 
spread out her wings to shelter them. If the 
storm beats heavily upon herself, she does not 
shrink from it if she can but protect those she 
loves. So Jesus called the inhabitants of Jerusa- 
lem, and would have sheltered them from the 
punishment they deserved, but they would not. 

This shows you the boundless love and compas- 
sion of the Saviour. The same mercy which caused 



THE SECOND COMING OP CHRIST. 105 

him to weep over Jerusalem is now extended to 
you. Jesus calls you in many ways to seek the 
shelter of his protecting wings. He has given you 
pious friends to counsel and guide you ; he has 
placed you where you can attend meeting and the 
Sabbath school; he has given you his holy word 
to read, which is " able to make you wise unto 
salvation.'' Will you not flee to him for shelter, 
as the defenceless chickens run to the covering of 
their mother's wings? He is able to protect you 
through all the storms of life ; and when you come 
to its solemn close, the hour of death, Jesus, and 
none but Jesus, can shelter you from the punish- 
ment which your sins have deserved, and transport 
you safely to the abode of everlasting happiness. 
With what tender sadness did he lament over the 
children of Jerusalem! O, let him not say of 
you, " How often would I have gathered you as a 
hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and 
ye would not." 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 
Matt. xxv. 31—34: 41, 46. 

31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all 
the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne 
of his glory : 

32. And before him shall be gathered all nations : and he 
shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth 
his sheep from the goats : 

33. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the 
goats on the left. 

34. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand P 



106 THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 

Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared 
for you from the foundation of the world. 

41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, 
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared 
for the devil and his angels. 

46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: 
but the righteous into life eternal. 

You have read of our Saviour's coming into 
the world in the form of the helpless babe of 
Bethlehem. You have seen that he was poor and 
despised, followed by the common people, but re- 
jected by the rich, learned, and powerful ones of 
the earth. He came in this holy, quiet manner, 
because he chose at that time to make such an 
entrance on earth, and not because he was not 
able to make the whole earth tremble at his com- 
ing. In the last chapter you were told that Jesus, 
after leaving the world would visit it again, and the 
verses above will inform you in what manner he 
will come, and for what purpose. 

Jesus says, H When the Son of man," meaning 
himself, " shall come in his glory," that is, with 
great power and authority, "and all the holy 
angels with him," attended by a vast number of 
those good and happy beings, called angels, who 
live with the Saviour, and constantly wait on him 
and do his pleasure : " then shall he sit upon the 
throne of his glory." A throne is the seat of a 
king or emperor, on which he sits while the peo- 
ple who obey him, gather around to receive his 
commands. By this you see that Jesus represents 
his second coming to be far different from the 
first. He will then come with awful majesty, not 
to be persecuted and crucified, but to be honored 
and obeyed. Every person on the earth will then 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 107 

know that he is the Son of God. At his first 
coming, while he traveled over the mountains and 
valleys of Palestine; and healed the sick, and 
gave bread to the hungry ; and chose for his most 
intimate friends some poor, ignorant fishermen ; 
there were but few of the persons who saw him 
that really believed he was the Son of God; and 
thousands who have since read of him in the 
New Testament will not believe; but when he 
comes in his glory, we shall all believe, though it 
may be too late to repent. 

"And before him shall be gathered all nations." 
The millions of people who have ever lived in 
this vast world are but one mighty family. God 
is the father of them all. The dwarfish Green- 
lander, the giant Hottentot, the swarthy Indian, 
the sable African, and the lighter race to which 
we belong, God has made of one blood, and they 
are all his children. Before him will all these 
nations be gathered. Every person who is then 
living on the earth, and all who have ever lived 
on it, from Adam, the first of men, down to the 
child whose birth is just before the Saviour's 
coming. In the fifth chapter of John, we are 
told that " the hour is coming in which all that 
are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall 
come forth." And in the fourteenth of Romans it 
is said, "We shall all stand before the judgment 
seat of Christ." 

But for what purpose are the dead called from 
their graves, and all the nations of the earth col- 
lected before the Son of man? " And he shall 
separate them one from another, as a shepherd 
divideth his sheep from the goats." In the coun- 



108 THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 

try where Jesus was teaching there were many 
shepherds, men whose business it was to take care 
of sheep, and that his disciples might understand 
him perfectly, he compared himself to a shepherd, 
and said he should separate the inhabitants of the 
earth in the same manner as a shepherd divideth 
the sheep from the goats. Sheep are more gentle 
and useful animals than goats, and these are made 
to represent the people who have loved and served 
God while on earth; and the goats, such as have 
been disobedient. The right hand is considered 
a place of honor and approbation, therefore this 
place was given to the righteous. "Then shall 
the king," which means the Saviour, "say to 
those on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from 
the foundation of the world." Blessed, you know, 
means highly favored, and to be blessed of God 
must be the most perfect happiness we can enjoy. 
" Inherit the kingdom," that is, take possession of 
the enjoyment which has long been waiting for 
you ; go with me to heaven, the place of perfect 
purity and peace, which has long been prepared 
for such as loved and obeyed me on earth. 

After this thirty-fourth verse to the forty-first, 
which I wish you to take your Testament and 
read, because it is too long to put in this little 
book, Jesus represents himself as saying to the 
righteous that they had been merciful and kind 
to the distressed, therefore they are now treated 
with mercy. You know he said in his sermon 
on the mount, " Blessed are the merciful, for they 
shall obtain mercy." In the forty-first verse, which 
you see above, we are told how the Son of man 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 109 

will address the wretched people on his left hand, 
" Depart," go away, " ye cursed," If you can think 
what it is to be blessed, think again what is the 
exact contrast of blessed, and that is to be cursed. 
It is to be entirely miserable. If you look around 
you and think of the most unhappy, wicked being 
you ever knew, he is not among those upon whom 
the curse of God rests to the uttermost. He still 
enjoys many of God's good things, and may yet 
have opportunity to repent, and ask the forgive- 
ness of his sins; but those to whom the Saviour 
shall say, " Depart, ye cursed," will have nothing 
more to enjoy, nothing more to hope, but every 
thing to suffer. They are told to go away into 
" everlasting fire." These words express a state of 
fearful punishment, such as we have no language 
to describe to you, nor any thoughts to picture it 
for ourselves. None know what it is but those 
who go there. May you and I never know. This 
place of wretchedness was first "prepared for the 
devil and his angels." Wicked beings who were 
once happy and good, but who lost their pure 
charcter, and became so wicked that God prepared 
for them the "everlasting fire," and the wicked 
inhabitants of earth must share it with them. 
Here, from the forty-first to the forty-sixth verse, 
which you may also read in your Testament, Jesus 
represents himself saying to the wicked that they 
had not obeyed him while they lived on earth, by 
treating all their fellow beings with mercy and 
kindness, as he required them. 

Finally, in the last of the verses above, he says, 
" These," meaning the wicked, "shall go away 
into everlasting punishment; but the righteous 

10 



110 THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 

into life eternal." The punishment of the wicked, 
and the reward of the righteous, are both to last 
for ever. Good people and bad will never be min- 
gled together again as in this world, but each will 
live on, in joy or woe, without dying, or knowing 
any change of being. 

I hope, my dear reader, you have not read this 
far in this chapter without reflecting that the sub- 
ject is very solemn, and one too in which you are 
deeply interested. Not one of you can say or 
think, "it does not concern me," for every human 
being will then stand before the Son of man, and 
be finally placed on his right hand or his left. Did 
you observe that the nations were not judged ac- 
cording to their name or color, but according to 
their character? You now see around you very 
many distinctions. There are people of different 
ages, and different conditions in life. The rich 
and the poor, the learned and the ignorant. Here 
are people from different countries, and of various 
religious denominations, but there only one dis- 
tinction will be found, good and bad, but two 
classes, the righteous and the wicked. Jesus, 
who knows the heart, will need but to see if that 
be right, and the question will be settled. 

Towards this awful, decisive day we all rapidly 
hasten. Every sun which rises and sets brings us 
one day nearer to it. What shall we do to prepare 
for such a day? Flee to Jesus, the friend of sin- 
ners. The same holy One who is to come with 
his mighty angels to judge the world, is he who 
took little children in his arms and blessed them, 
he who wept over Jerusalem, he who came from 
heaven to earth to go about doing good, pitying 



THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. Ill 

all who were distressed, and preaching the gospel 
of peace, and finally dying on the cross for sinners. 
Though he has now returned to heaven, he still 
watches over the family of man, and is not willing 
that any should perish. If you give your heart to 
him you will be safe in the day of judgment, for 
he is able to protect you, and take you to dwell 
with him. He has said to such as love him, " I 
go to prepare a place for you, that where I am 
there ye may be also." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 

Matt. xxvi. 20- — 25. 

20. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the 
twelve. 

21. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, 
that one of you shall betray me. 

22. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every 
one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I ? 

23. And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand 
with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. 

24. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him : but wo 
unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed ! it had 
been good for that man if he had not been born. 

25. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, 
Master, is it I ? He said unto him, Thou hast said. 

In the next chapter, after Jesus tells his disci- 
ples of his second coming, he begins to speak 
particularly of his death, which was now drawing 
near. In the first of the verses above, we learn 
that at the close of the day, Jesus sat down with 
the twelve, which means that he sat at the table 



112 THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 

with them, for we are told in the verses preceding 
this, that they were about to partake of the feast 
of the passover. The twelve disciples were those 
whom Jesus called to follow him. They had been 
with him in his labors, and had enjoyed the op- 
portunity of seeing most of his mighty works, and 
had no doubt received special instruction from his 
lips. With these Jesus sat at the table, and as 
they did eat he said to them, "Verily I say unto 
you, one of you shall betray me." To betray means 
to give up into the hands of enemies. Jesus, you 
know, though he was all goodness and mercy, had 
enemies. The chief priests and others had long 
been seeking to destroy him, and he had one 
enemy among those who professed to be his best 
friends. If you look at the fourteenth, fifteenth, 
and sixteenth verses of the twenty-sixth of Mat- 
thew, you will find that Judas, one of the twelve, 
had before this agreeed with the chief priests to 
show them where they could find the Saviour, 
and for this wicked deed they promised to give 
him thirty pieces of silver. The other disciples 
could not see the vile heart of Judas, and they 
knew not who it could be that would betray the 
blessed Saviour into the hands of sinners. " They 
were exceeding sorrowful." We cannot wonder 
that their hearts were touched with sorrow. They 
had been astonished, and almost unwilling to be- 
lieve that it even would be so, when Jesus had 
told them that he was to die by the hands of 
wicked men, but now when he told them that one 
of the twelve was to betray him, they were ex- 
ceeding sorrowful; and not knowing but their 
own hearts had deceived them, and they were his 



THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 113 

enemies, when they hoped they were his friends, 
they " began every one of them to inquire, Lord, 
is it I ?" Matthew did not say, " Lord, is it LukeT ' 
nor Mark, " Lord, is it John?" but each one sus- 
pected himself, and desired Jesus to search him, 
because he knew that what the Bible says is very 
true, — "The heart is deceitful above all things, 
and desperately wicked." Jesus answered, He 
that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the 
same shall betray me. In that ancient time, and 
in that far distant country, people did not take 
their food as we do. They used no knives, forks, 
or spoons, but each one took from the dish with 
his hand. Judas, it is probable, sat near the Sa- 
viour, and helped himself from the same dish. 

After this, Jesus said, " The Son of man goeth 
as it is written of him." That is, the manner in 
which I am to die is the same as is written of me 
in the scriptures. The prophets had foretold many 
years before this, that Jesus would be put to death 
by sinners, therefore all this was fulfilling scrip- 
ture, yet it by no means excused Judas, or made 
his punishment any lighter. Jesus says, " Wo 
unto that man," a curse will rest on that man, 
" by whom the Son of man is betrayed. It had 
been good for that man if he had not been born." 
O wretched, wretched Judas ! He was once a 
joyful, innocent child. He had friends to love 
him, and he loved them in return. He enjoyed 
the beautiful earth, and rejoiced in the bounties 
of God's providence. He became a man, and in 
the course of the changes of life, he met with 
Jesus of Nazareth. Perhaps he could see in some 
measure that Jesus was lovely and excellent : it 

10* 



114 THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 

may be that for a time he thought he loved him 9 
but afterwards found that he had deceived himself. 
Perhaps he only followed him with the hope of 
worldly gain. We know not how it was, but we 
know, because Jesus said it, that he had better 
never have had any life, though he once had many 
things to enjoy, than to have lived to betray the 
Son of man. Judas never was a christian, though 
he had professed to be one of the Saviour's warm- 
est friends. When he heard that the chief priests 
were seeking to destroy Jesus, it seems he was 
all ready to assist them. We cannot tell what 
motive led Judas to commit this vile act, unless it 
was the base passion of avarice, or love of money. 
The chief priests agreed to give him thirty pieces 
of silver, about fifteen dollars of our money, and 
for this paltry sum he was induced to betray 
Jesus, the friend of sinners, into the hands of 
those who thirsted for his blood. 

Do not suppose that this wicked man ever de- 
ceived the Saviour. No, he might deceive him- 
self, and all his fellow-beings who knew him, but 
Jesus he could never deceive. He knew from the 
first that one of his professed friends was a hypo- 
crite, and would become a traitor ; but he suffered 
it to be so. Perhaps it was allowed to be so to 
teach the disciples, and us who read of them, what 
wicked hearts men have, and how easy it is to 
deceive our fellow-beings. 

Now look again at the verses at the beginning 
of the chapter. In the twenty-fifth, it is said Judas 
at length asked the same question that the others 
had, "Master, is it IV We know not why he 
should ask this question, when he must have re- 



THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 115 

membered what he had already agreed to do. 
Perhaps he hoped by this means still to deceive 
the disciples, and it is possible he even hoped to 
deceive the Saviour, but when Jesus answered, 
"Thou hast said," which means yes, he must 
have felt that he was dealing with one who could 
look into his heart. From the account that John 
gives of this transaction, we may conclude that 
Judas went out immediately after this. 

Before the chapter closes, from the forty-sixth 
to the fifty-first verse, you will find an account of 
his coming with a multitude of men sent with him 
by the chief priests, armed with swords and staves. 
As these men did not know Jesus when they saw 
him, Judas agreed to give them a sign that they 
might take him, and that sign was a kiss. This 
false friend went up to the holy Saviour, and said, 
Hail Master, and kissed him, and then the armed 
men laid hold on him. 

After this, Matthew mentions Judas but once. 
In the next chapter, from the second to the sixth 
verse, you will find the last account of him. It 
appears that he could not enjoy, nor even keep, 
the money for which he had sold his Saviour. He 
brought it back to the priests, saying, "I have 
sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." 
As they did not choose to take the money, or 
trouble themselves about the Saviour's innocence, 
he threw down the silver and went out — went out 
to what, my reader? Could that man find any 
place of happiness on this fair earth which God 
has given to his children, after he had betrayed 
the Son of God? Could he find any peace after 
he had declared himself the enemy of his Maker ? 



116 THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS. 

No. No plaGe of happiness, no peace, and there- 
fore he added another to his awful list of sins. 
" He went out and hanged himself." After the 
struggles of death were over, could his spirit find 
any place of happiness or rest? No. The eye 
of that God whom he had offended was still upon 
him, and among those who are for ever lost, we 
must think of Judas as one of the most wretched. 
Let his history teach us to examine our own hearts, 
and to ask God to " search us, and try us, and see 
if there be any wicked way in us, and lead us in 
the way everlasting." 

Now turn your thoughts away from the unhappy 
Judas to think of the merciful Saviour. He came 
to live in our sinful world on purpose to save lost 
men. He pitied all our infirmities, and spent his 
life in doing good; but in the midst of his self- 
denying labors, while the sick and needy still 
pressed around for his aid, while thousands of 
children still needed his blessing, the envious 
priests "sought how they might destroy him;" 
and there was one among those who well knew 
how merciful and good he was, one who had pro- 
fessed to love him, ready to betray him into their 
hands. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

Matt. xxvi. 26—30. 

26. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed 
it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, 
eat ; this is my body. 

27. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to 
them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 

28. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is 
shed for many for the remission of sins. 

29. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this 
fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you 
in my Father's kingdom. 

30. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into 
the Mount of Olives. 

The verses above are immediately following 
those at the head of the last chapter. If Judas 
left them at that time he was now probably mak- 
ing arrangements with the chief priests, and pre- 
paring to carry out his wicked plan ; while Jesus 
still sat at the table surrounded by a few real 
friends, who he knew did indeed love him. This 
was the time, and these the circumstances, in 
which our blessed Saviour first taught his disci- 
ples to take bread and wine in memory of him. 
" He took bread, blessed and brake it, and gave 
it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat; this is my 
body." Not that the bread was made into the 
real body of Christ, but that it was an emblem of 
his body, that is, a thing which represented it. 
This emblem of his body he broke and divided 
among all his disciples. After this he took the 
cup, or the vessel which contained the wine, 
117 



118 THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

blessed it, and gave it to them, saying, " Drink ye 
all of it." Wine is the emblem of the Saviour's 
blood, which freely flowed for sinners. "This 
is my blood which is shed for many." Not for 
the disciples only, who were seated around the 
table, but for many in all ages since that time, and 
in all ages yet to come ; for many who are now 
living around us, and I hope for many who shall 
read this little book, and think with me on the 
love and pity of the compassionate Saviour. " For 
the remission," that is, the forgiveness, " of sins." 
The Bible says, " Without the shedding of blood 
there is no remission." Sins cannot be forgiven 
in any other way. After this, Jesus informs his 
disciples that he should not again partake of this 
supper with them. It was for them to celebrate 
after his death, and these emblems were to remind 
them, when they could see him no more, that he 
so loved them as to leave the bosom of his Father, 
and come to earth to die on the cross for them ; 
and that he would always love them, and watch 
over them, and at some future day, when they had 
done their duty on earth, he would receive them 
to dwell with him in heaven. The meeting was 
closed by singing a hymn of praise and thanks- 
giving to God. 

Perhaps the most of my readers have been 
present at what is called the communion, or cele- 
bration of the Lord's Supper, but it may be many 
of you have never inquired or thought what was 
meant by it. I will attempt to tell you, and if 
you have ever looked on this ordinance with a gay 
arid careless mind, I hope you will never allow 
yourself to do it again. You observe the congre- 



THE LORD'S SUPPER. 119 

gation go out or change their seats, so that the 
members of the church are seated together, and 
the emblems of the Saviour's body and blood are 
handed only to them. It is said in Luke that 
when Jesus gave his disciples the bread and wine 
he said, " This do in remembrance of me." Now 
no other persons but such as really love the Saviour 
can keep this command, for none else can remem- 
ber him with affection. Such persons unite to- 
gether in forming a church, that the world may 
know that they are christians, and wish to obey 
all the commands of Christ. These are the per- 
sons who partake of the Lord's supper, and it 
would be very wicked for one who is not a church 
member to take the bread and wine with them. 
In 1 Corinthians it is said, that those who cele- 
brate this ordinance " show forth the Lord's death 
till he come." For more than eighteen hundred 
years the followers of Christ have remembered him 
in this manner: and in this manner he will have 
friends to remember him till he comes the second 
time to earth, to call its inhabitants to judgment. 
When our Saviour was seated around the table, 
as you read above, he was about to leave his dis- 
ciples in the midst of a wicked world. He had 
been their guide and protector, and they had 
looked to him for support in all their troubles. 
Soon they would see him no more, and he well 
knew that in the midst of the trials which were 
coming upon them, they would be very liable to 
forget that they had such an almighty Friend. He 
knew that we who live in these last ages of the 
world, and all christians would sometimes find it 
very difficult to call to mind their absent Saviour, 



120 THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

and realize that he had died for them; therefore 
he gave them these beautiful emblems of himself. 
When he had ascended to heaven, his love would 
still be with his friends, and his care would protect 
them ; this he wished to make them understand 
and feel when he was absent from them. As your 
friend who is about to leave you, presents you a 
book, or some other token of his friendship, that 
you may remember him by it, and as often as you 
see the present, think of his kindness and love, so 
Jesus left this ordinance to remind his friends of 
his pity and love for the needy and distressed, but 
especially to remind them of his death, which was 
not like the death of John, and other good men 
who have suffered death because they were faith- 
ful to the truth. Jesus died, " the just for the 
unjust, that he might bring us unto God." He 
came to earth on purpose to die for sinners. While 
here he relieved the distressed by working mira- 
cles, and went about doing good; but this was not 
the great errand on which he came. His errand 
was "to open a new and living way" for lost men 
to be saved. For this he gave himself a sacrifice ; 
and all who truly celebrate the Lord's supper, re- 
member that he has died for them, and take the 
bread and wine with gratitude and love, giving 
themselves away anew to Jesus, and praying that 
he will prepare them to go and dwell with him in 
heaven. 

My dear reader, in following our Saviour's his- 
tory thus far, he has been presented before you in 
many different scenes, and attended by various 
circumstances, but in all how benevolent and love- 
ly he appears! Think of him at this time. One 



THE LORD S SUPPER. 121 

of his professed friends had gone out to betray 
him. The band of soldiers were coming soon 
upon him. The hour of pain and fearful agony 
of mind was near. All this he knew, and yet he 
thought not of himself, but of his friends. He 
looked down through all the course of time, and 
appointed this simple yet touching memorial of his 
death, to comfort and console the hearts of those 
who love him, till time shall be no more, and chris- 
tians shall be gathered to the Saviour's home, and 
no longer need an emblem of him, because they 
shall "see him face to face." Those who love 
Jesus, sit down to partake of this supper with 
solemn, grateful feelings. I hope some of you 
have hearts prepared to join them, and have united 
with the church; but if you only sit by to witness 
the communion let your countenance be sober, 
and your thoughts attentive ; and regard the scene 
before you as you would one in which an affec- 
tionate family of children were looking at their 
departed father's last present, and as they pass it 
from one to another, were speaking of his last 
commands, and thinking of all his love and care 
for them. If you looked on such a family your 
thoughts could not be vain and trifling. Can they 
be so when you witness the celebration of the Sa- 
viour's dying love ? 

11 



CHAPTER XXTV. 

PETER'S SELF-CONFIDENCE; AND HIS DENIAL OF 
THE SAVIOUR. 

Matt. xxvi. 33 — 35. 



33. Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men 
shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. 

34. Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this 
night, before the cock crow, thou shaft deny me thrice. 

35. Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, 
yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples. 

Peter, you recollect, was one of the twelve who 
are called the Apostles — the one who desired to 
walk on the water, and yet was so fearful and un- 
believing that he began to sink, and cried out 
with fear. He had heard the Saviour's preaching, 
had seen his mighty works, and had sat with him 
at the supper. Peter felt sure that he loved the 
Saviour, and thought nothing could tempt him to 
say he did not love him — not even the fear of 
being put to death for his sake. Jesus had been 
telling his disciples, that all of them would be of- 
fended that night because of him, which means 
that they would be led to do wrong towards him 
by forsaking him when he was in distress. To 
this remark Peter answered as in the first of the 
verses above. He does not say, " though all men 
shall forsake thee, i" hope I shall not." But he 
says positively, without doubt or fear, "Yet will 
not I." Jesus told him that that very night, 
before the cock should crow, he would deny him 
three times. Jesus too speaks positively, but this 
is far different from Peter's speaking so. He could 

122 



peter's denial of the saviour. 123 

see the events of the day, and week, and year, be- 
fore they arrived, and he knew what temptation 
his weak disciple was about to fall into, and that 
he would be too fearful to acknowledge himself 
his disciple. He told Peter that it would be so, 
yet he insisted, " Though I should die with thee 
yet will I not deny thee;" and it is added that the 
other disciples joined with him. Poor, short-sight- 
ed, erring man ! He knew not that an hour of 
fearful trial was just before him, and that he would 
be left not only to deny repeatedly that he knew 
the Saviour, but even be so overcome by sin as to 
use profane language. Perhaps he thought he had 
been so long the Saviour's friend, and had met 
with so many things to try his faith and love, that 
he was now prepared for the worst of trials ; but 
he knew not his own heart. 

If you read the twenty-sixth chapter to the close 
you will find that when the armed men, sent by 
the chief priests, took Jesus and led him away to 
be crucified, Peter followed afar off, and went into 
the house where Jesus was taken, and sat with 
the servants to see the end. He could not but 
feel deeply interested in the blessed Saviour. He 
knew that he was altogether lovely ; so innocent 
and good that none but vile men, such as were 
willing to speak falsely, would say he had done 
anything wrong — therefore he could not go away 
to his home, and try to forget that he had ever 
known Jesus ; and yet when he saw how he was 
treated, and knew that he would soon be put to 
death, he was far from being willing to die with 
him. No, although he told Jesus that he had rather 



124 peter's denial of the saviour. 

die with him than deny him, he now chose to deny 
him rather than die with him. 

In the last part of the chapter we learn that he 
said to those who asked him if he was not one that 
followed Jesus, "I know not the man/ 5 and when 
he was asked the third time " he began to curse 
and swear." Immediately after this the cock crew, 
and then Peter remembered the words of his once 
beloved Master, "Before the cock crow thoushalt 
deny me thrice.' , Luke, in giving the same ac- 
count, adds, that at this moment Jesus turned and 
looked upon Peter. The Saviour was at this time 
bound, and in the hands of wicked men, who were 
insulting and mocking him in the most cruel man- 
ner, but he did not forget his poor, tempted, sin- 
ning disciple. Perhaps he was not allowed to 
speak, but he was not yet fastened to the cross; 
he could turn and look, and as his eyes fell on 
Peter, he sent the spirit of repentance into his 
heart, for we are told that " he went out and wept 
bitterly." Mark says, Peter called to mind the 
words of Jesus, " and when he thought thereon he 
wept." O what an hour of bitter anguish was 
that when Peter fled away to weep ! Those mild, 
compassionate eyes which had so often turned 
towards him with love had fallen on him once 
more, and that heavenly glance had sent convic- 
tion to his heart, and brought before him all his 
own guilt and baseness. As he thought of the pity- 
ing love of Jesus when he first saw him, and called 
him to leave his fishing net and follow him; of the 
mercy which sustained him when sinking amid 
the waves; and of the love, and power, and good- 



Peter's denial of the saviour. 125 

ness which the Saviour had always shown towards 
him, and all who came to him during his whole 
ministry, he must have felt that he was the most 
ungrateful of men. He thought on his sins and 
wept. He began to repent, and now it would have 
been a pleasure and relief to him, could he have 
run to his injured Saviour, and kneeling before 
him, have bathed his feet with his tears, and en- 
treated his forgiveness; but his Saviour was bound, 
and led away to be crucified. He could speak to 
him no more, could listen to no more of his sooth- 
ing words, nor even have one more look from his 
eye. O, what consolation was left for Peter ! 
There was one, my young reader. Jesus knew 
his heart, and if he was truly penitent for his sin, 
he could pray to be forgiven, and Jesus would 
know that he was sorry, and would still love and 
pity him. From what is afterwards written of 
Peter, and from what he wrote himself in his 
Epistles, we learn that he did truly repent, and 
become a more humble and pious man than he 
was before ; and though it is not recorded in 
the Bible, we learn from history, which we have 
no doubt is correct, that he was at last crucified 
on account of his religion. Though his faith and 
courage once failed, he was afterward so strength- 
ened by the grace of God as to suffer a distressing 
death, rather than again deny his Lord. 

I have not dwelt on this distressing scene just 
for the purpose of leading you to think of the cha- 
racter of Peter. I wish you to observe that true 
christians are not perfect. The best of men are 
liable to fall into sin, though few good people, we 
hope, have ever sinned as Peter did. The Bible 

11* 



126 peter's denial of the saviour. 

says there is "not a just man that liveth and sin- 
neth not." None but those who saw Jesus Christ 
have seen a person in human form who was per- 
fect. He had the form of a man because he took 
upon him our nature, but within was the spirit of 
God, for he was the Son of God. 

If all the inhabitants of the earth are sinners, 
and even christians have some evil left in their 
hearts, which sometimes shows itself iu actions, 
you must not expect your pious friends to be en- 
tirely free from error, though you have reason to 
expect them to come nearer doing just right than 
those do who have not professed religion. When 
I was twelve years of age, several of my young 
friends, about my own age, and some a little older, 
professed to become christians; and I remember 
that I watched them very narrowly, and if I saw 
the least evidence that one of them felt any wrong 
disposition, I was ready to conclude that such a 
one was not a christian. Now this was wrong, 
and from such an error I would save you. If I 
had known one of my friends to commit a very 
wicked act, and not appear to feel sorry for it; or 
if I had been sure that he continued for a long 
time to neglect the duties of a christian, such as 
praying, and attending the worship of God; I 
should have had reason to fear he was not a chris- 
tian; but I had no right to conclude my friend 
could not have a new heart because he sometimes 
appeared to feel wrong as I felt. 

When the christian arrives at that happy place 
where Jesus is, he will be free from sin. The 
disposition to do wrong will be taken away, and 
he will no longer have to strive, and pray, and 



our saviour's voluntary death. 127 

watch against sin. While the christian remains 
here he does not sin without sorrow and repent- 
ance; and here is the difference between the true 
christian and the hypocrite. Judas acknowledged 
he had betrayed " innocent blood," but he dis- 
covered no real repentance for his sin. Peter 
" thought of his sin and wept," and his after life 
proved that his tears were tears of penitence. 

Now let us think once more of the blessed Sa- 
viour. How numerous and how aggravated were 
the sorrows which swept over him ! Not only be- 
trayed by a false friend, but denied by one who 
truly loved him, but was unable to stand the hour 
of temptation ; and abandoned by all, for it is said 
in the fifty-sixth verse that when the soldiers came 
to lay hold on Jesus, " all the disciples forsook him 
and fled." 



CHAPTER XXV. 

OUR SAVIOUR'S VOLUNTARY DEATH. 
Matt. xxvi. 51 — 54. 

51. And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus 
stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a 
servant of the high priest, and smote off his ear. 

52. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into 
his place : for all they that take the sword shall perish with 
the sword. 

53. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, 
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of 
angels ? 

54. But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that 
thus it must be ? 

In the verses which precede those above, we 



128 our saviour's voluntary death. 

have an account of Judas' coming with a great 
multitude of men armed with swords and staves, 
sent by the chief priests and elders of the people, 
to take Jesus and lead him to the governor. 

When Judas had given the Saviour that false, 
betraying kiss, of which you have read in a former 
chapter, Jesus said to him, " Friend, wherefore 
art thou come?" and immediately the men laid 
hold on Jesus, and took him. At this time you 
will learn from the first of the verses above, one 
of Jesus' friends drew a sword, and wounded one 
of the servants. In John's gospel we learn that it 
was Peter who thus rashly used the sword. This, 
you will understand, took place before Peter denied 
his Lord, for in the last chapter I went forward a 
little to finish the account of Peter. "Then said 
Jesus unto him, Put up thy sword." Luke in- 
forms us that Jesus immediately touched the ser- 
vant's ear, and cured him. How meek and for- 
giving, how merciful and kind was Jesus, the 
Saviour of sinners! Although the armed men 
had laid violent hands on him, and were even then 
leading him away to insult, suffering, and death; 
he would not have his disciples raise one hand 
against them, and when one of them did it with- 
out his permission he would not allow his enemy 
to suffer a short time, from a slight wound, but in 
the midst of the tumult and alarm, while they were 
hurrying him away to the high priest, he wrought 
a miracle by healing the wounded man in a mo- 
ment. He had said to his hearers, in his sermon 
on the mount, " Love your enemies, do good to 
them that persecute you," and how fully did he 
show them by his example what he meant by his 



our saviour's voluntary death. 129 

preaching. All our Saviour's life was a perfect 
example. He kept every rule of life which he laid 
down for us, and obeyed all the commandments 
of the Old Testament, for he said, "I came not 
to destroy the law, but to fulfil it." 

In the fifty-third verse above, he says to his dis- 
ciples, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to 
my Father, and he shall presently give me more 
than twelve legions of angels?" Perhaps the dis- 
ciples did not fully understand that Jesus had come 
on earth for the purpose of dying for sinners; and 
that now he had performed his works, finished his 
preaching, and appointed the Lord's Supper to be 
kept in remembrance of him, he was ready "to 
be offered." It may be my young reader has never 
thought on the subject, or really understood that 
Jesus died a voluntary death, that is, that he gave 
himself up willingly to die that sinners might be 
saved. Many christians have died for the cause 
of the truth, because they had rather die than 
become wicked. Such persons are called mar- 
tyrs; but Jesus Christ was more than a martyr. 
They could not escape death but by telling false- 
hoods, or doing something wrong; Jesus could 
have taken himself away from his enemies in an 
instant, or he could have taken their breath away 
from them, and have made the whole multitude a 
vast body of lifeless corpses stretched on the 
ground, with their swords and staves lying power- 
less beside them ; or, as he told his disciples, he 
could have commanded twelve legions of angels. 
One legion is from three to six thousand, and 
Jesus no doubt meant by this that if he chose to 
do it he could at once call to his aid a countless 



130 our saviour's voluntary death. 

number of heavenly beings ; for he, whom vile, 
insignificant man despised and murdered, angels 
worshiped and obeyed. "But how then," said 
Jesus, " shall ihe scriptures be fulfilled." 

After sin entered our world by the disobedience 
of Adam and Eve, God pitied the race of man, and 
promised at some future time to send a Saviour 
to redeem them. All the good people of whom 
we read in the ancient scriptures, believed and 
trusted in that Saviour, and looked forward to 
the time of his coming as we now look back to it. 
The prophets were taught by the spirit of God to 
foretell his coming, and describe the manner of 
his death. Isaiah said, "He was led as a lamb 
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shear- 
ers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." If 
Jesus had called the angels, these scriptures would 
not have been fulfilled, and that offering would not 
have been made through which you and I may 
hope for mercy, and through which every human 
being is saved, if saved at all. But Jesus, our 
merciful Saviour, did not shrink back in the hour 
of danger and suffering. He loved us with an 
everlasting, an almighty love. Had he been only 
a man, his pity for us might have been lost in the 
midst of his own sufferings ; but with the unchange- 
able purpose of a God he had given himself a 
sacrifice for sin, and with a love and pity which 
nothing could quench, he went steadily forward to 
finish the work of man's redemption. 

Does not your heart warm with gratitude and 
love towards the Redeemer of lost men. as you 
read of his giving himself a willing sacrifice for 
sin, that ruined man might be saved? If not, my 



OUR saviour's suffering. 131 

dear reader, are you not fearful that you partake 
of the spirit of the chief priests and scribes, who 
could see nothing lovely in the character of the 
Saviour, and hated him without a cause? 



CHAPTER XXVI 

OUR SAVIOUR'S SUFFERING. 

Matt, xxvii. 46. 

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani ? that is to say, My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me. 

From the first of our Saviour's public ministry, 
we find that the chief priests were seeking to put 
him to death, and now as the time had arrived 
when he chose to give himself up to them, they 
were able to accomplish their purpose. I hope 
my reader will understand that these wicked men 
did not know that Jesus suffered himself to be 
taken by them, because he came to die for sinners, 
and therefore they were none the less guilty. They 
did not believe that he was the Saviour of the 
world, but they ought to have believed it; and to 
have loved him with all their hearts. They heard 
his gracious words, and saw his wonderful works, 
and it was only because they would not believe, 
and give their hearts to him, that they became so 
hardened in sin. 

After the soldiers took Jesus, by order of the 
priests, he was led to the high priest, that he might 
examine him When Caiaphas, the high priest, 



132 OUR SAVIOURS SUFFERING. 

asked him if he was Christ, the Son of God, Jesus 
answered that he was, and he also said to him, 
"Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on 
the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds 
of heaven." At this the high priest rent his clothes, 
saying, "He hath spoken blasphemy/' which means 
very wicked language against God, and as he asked 
the people what they thought of it they said, " He 
is guilty of death;" and here the blessed Saviour 
was treated in the most abusive and insulting 
manner. They even spit in his face, and buffeted, 
or struck him with the fist. After this the chief 
priests and elders of the people consulted together 
about putting the Saviour to death, and then he 
was bound and led away to Pilate, the Roman 
governor. We are told by other evangelists that 
he was also carried before Herod, a Jewish ruler. 
Pilate, it appears, could not find any reason why 
Jesus should be crucified, and he urged the peo- 
ple to have him released, but the chief priests and 
elders persuaded the people to join in the cry, 
"Crucify him, crucify him." The Saviour was 
therefore delivered up to the envious, blood-thirsty 
Jews, and led away to be crucified. He was 
scourged, or beaten, and then the soldiers put on 
him a scarlet robe, and platted a crown of thorns 
and put it on his head, and bowed the knee before 
him, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews." This was 
done on purpose to mock and insult the meek and 
lowly Saviour. After this we are told they again 
spit on him, and smote him on the head. When 
they were weary with this derision and cruelty, 
they fastened his precious body to the cross. A 
cross is a straight piece of wood, with another 



OUR SAVIOUR S SUFFERING. 133 

piece fastened across it near the top. Large nails 
were driven through the Saviour's feet to confine 
him to the wood, and his arms were stretched out 
and confined to the cross piece by nails driven 
through the palms of his hands. The cross was 
set up in such a manner as to leave the feet of the 
Saviour about one yard from the ground. After 
Jesus was thus extended, his murderers sat down 
to watch him, and not satisfied with witnessing 
his sufferings in silence, they reviled him, wagging 
their heads, and saying, "If thou be the Son of 
God, come down from the cross. Likewise, also, 
the chief priests, mocking him, with the scribes 
and elders, said, He saved others, himself he cannot 
save." 

Once more, my dear reader, think of the blessed 
Saviour, and review his life from the time you 
first read of him as the sweet babe of Bethlehem, 
to this hour of his death. You remember how he 
sat on the bleak mountain side, speaking the words 
of love and wisdom to the ignorant multitude; 
how he banished disease and suffering, and pro- 
duced health and happiness by his miraculous 
power; and how he loved little children, and wept 
over the sins of those who were too hardened to 
repent ; and now behold him stretched upon the 
cross, dying a lingering death, surrounded by an 
insulting mob, who take a malicious pleasure in 
beholding his distress. And why is this? Are 
you not astonished and perplexed to think an in- 
nocent person should suffer thus? And then 
when you think of his benevolence, that he not 
only injured none, but did good to all ; and, added 
to all this, when you think of his miracles, which 

12 



134 our saviour's suffering. 

proved him to be the Son of God, do you not 
wonder still more and more that he should be left 
to suffer thus? It is not strange that you should 
wonder. It is a mystery to all who hear of it; a 
mystery which can be explained in only one way, 
and that we know is the right explanation, because 
we find it in the scriptures. He did not suffer for 
his own sake, but for the sake of sinners. Isaiah 
says, " He was wounded for our transgressions, he 
was bruised for our iniquities; with his stripes we 
are healed;" and "The Lord hath laid on him the 
iniquity of us all." Peter says, " He bore our sins 
in his own body on the tree." 

The whole family of man, you know, are sinners. 
God is too holy to love sinners, and too just to 
suffer sin to go unpunished. His'pure law re- 
quired that guilty man should suffer everlasting 
punishment, but at the same time he pitied us, 
and was willing that his Son should die, "the just 
for the unjust," to bring us back to God. Jesus 
looked on us in our lost condition, and offered to 
suffer the punishment which we deserved. His 
Father accepted the offering, and "laid on him 
the iniquities of us all." It was this heavy load of 
sins that caused the Saviour to cry out, "My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me." 

We have been thinking of the distress of body 
which our Saviour endured, but we have reason 
to suppose that was trifling, compared with the 
agony of his spirit. It was not the torture of the 
nails, nor the pains of expiring nature, that caused 
this bitter cry, but the punishment due to our sins, 
the punishment for the sins of the whole world, 
which came over him like a flood, and hid his 



our saviour's suffering. 135 

Father's face from him, and made him feel that 
God had forsaken him. Jesus, you know, was 
pure and holy. Though the effects of sin were 
laid upon him, it did not make him a sinner, there- 
fore it was far more distressing to him to suffer 
the punishment of sin, and be driven away from 
the presence of his righteous Father. 

O look, dear reader, at that dying Saviour. 
Look in your mind, and think how willingly he 
suffered. He might have ascended up from the 
hands of his murderers, or he might have caused 
the ground to open and swallow them up; but 
then the inhabitants of the earth must have been 
lost; you and I could have had no hope of pardon. 

Think how dreadfully he suffered. Death by 
crucifixion was exceedingly painful. It was a 
slow, distressing torture, far more fearful than such 
a death as John suffered, who was beheaded in 
the prison; and yet this was but a small part of 
his suffering. We have no language to describe, 
nor thoughts to conceive, of the distress of his 
holy soul, when he groaned under the sins of a 
whole world. 

Think how meekly he suffered. "When he was 
reviled, he reviled not again." In giving the 
account of our Saviour's death, Luke relates some 
circumstances not mentioned by Matthew. He 
says when Jesus was about to expire he prayed 
for his murderers, saying, " Father, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do." O how did his 
mercy overcome every other feeling, even the dis- 
tress he suffered from the punishment of sin, and 
with his latest breath he prays that his enemies 
may be forgiven. Say, dear children, should you 



136 our saviour's resurrection. 

not love such a Saviour? A Saviour, so kind, so 
meek and forgiving, so willing to bear the sins 
of a wicked world, and die the painful death of 
the cross, to save us from the punishment which 
our sins have deserved? Yes, you must give 
yourself to him, and love him with all your heart, 
or you can never be happy. Do not suppose that 
his atonement will save you, unless you accept of 
him as your Saviour, and seek to obey all his 
commands, and desire to be made pure and holy 
as he is. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

OUR SAVIOUR'S RESURRECTION. 

Matt, xxviii. 6 — 10. 

6. He is not here : for he has risen as he said. Come, see 
the place where the Lord lay. 

7. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen 
from the dead ; and, behold, he goeth before you into Gali- 
lee ; there ye shall see him : lo, I have told you. 

8. And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear 
and great joy ; and did run to bring his disciples word. 

9. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus 
met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by 
the feet, and worshipped him. 

10. Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid : go tell my 
brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me. 

After Jesus had uttered the last cry, and his 
spirit departed; his mangled body hung lifeless on 
the cross, having suffered all its pain. John in- 
forms us that one of the soldiers plunged a spear 
into his side, but this gave him no pain, for he 



our saviour's resurrection. 137 

was already dead. Perhaps his enemies were 
willing to go away and allow his friends to draw 
nigh, now they had gratified their wicked feelings 
by putting him to death. Though they had taken 
him, and "by wicked hands had crucified and 
slain him, 5 ' the blessed Saviour still had friends 
who loved him, and thought with aching hearts on 
his cruel death. To these good people the S aviour's 
body was very dear ; and if they could do nothing 
to save him from death they hoped to save his body 
from farther abuse by laying it in a quiet grave. 

We are told that one of his friends, a rich man, 
named Joseph, went to Pilate, the Roman gover- 
nor, " and begged the body of Jesus." Pilate gave 
him permission to take it down from the cross, 
and he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid 
it in his own new sepulchre, or tomb, placing a 
heavy stone at the door of it. There were other 
friends of Jesus, who brought sweet spices to 
anoint his body, according to the custom of the 
country. Two of these are called in the first verse 
of the twenty-eighth chapter of Matthew — Mary 
Magdalene, and the other Mary; and it is said 
that they came "at the end of the Sabbath, when 
it began to dawn towards the first day of the week, 
to see the sepulchre." Luke mentions that they 
brought the spices, to anoint the body of Jesus. 

The end of the Sabbath means the Jewish 
Sabbath, which was the same as our Saturday. It 
was therefore early on our Sabbath morning that 
these pious women came to manifest their love for 
their departed Saviour by anointing his body with 
precious ointment. Perhaps you will think it 
strange that they supposed they could come near 

12* 



138 our saviour's resurrection. 

to the body of Jesus after he had been buried, 
but it is not strange, because in that country tombs 
are large rooms under ground, and a person can 
enter them without trouble. As these women 
came near to the sepulchre, they found the stone 
rolled away from the door, and an angel sitting 
on it. Pilate had sent some men to watch the 
sepulchre, and these men were so frightened by 
the appearance of an angel that they fainted and 
fell down ; but the angel was a beautiful and holy 
being, and no good person need to be afraid of 
him. He spoke kindly to the women, saying, 
"Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus who 
was crucified." He then told them as you see in 
the first of the verses above, that he was not in 
the tomb, but was risen ; and invited them to look 
in and " see the place where the Lord lay." After 
this the angel tells them to go quickly, and inform 
the Saviour's disciples that he had risen, and would 
go before them into Galilee. The women departed 
quickly, and hastened to bring to the sorrowing 
disciples the joyful news that their Lord had risen 
from the dead. They went " with fear and great 
joy." Perhaps they could not help feeling some 
fear when they knew that they had been talking 
with a holy being from heaven, but they felt great 
joy, for they saw that the Saviour whom they 
loved was not in the tomb; and they believed that 
the angel told them the truth when he said, " he is 
risen." Now they hoped soon to see Jesus again, 
and hoped too that his enemies, and the enemies 
of all righteousness would not be allowed to rule 
over the world, and make the people obey them. 
They felt so joyful, and so eager that the disci- 



our saviour's resurrection. 139 

pies should share their joy, that they ran to bring 
them word; but on their way, behold, Jesus met 
them. That very Saviour whom they had seen 
put to death by the cruel soldiers stood before 
them, and they heard his mild, compassionate 
voice saying " All Hail," which was an expression 
used in that country when friends met together. 
The women held him by the feet and worshiped 
him. We cannot wonder that they bowed down 
before him, and clasped his feet with gratitude and 
love, when they knew that he had died to save 
them. In the tenth verse you read that Jesus said 
to them, "Be not afraid." O he is the same Sa- 
viour ! How tender and merciful, when he knew 
that they were weak and fearful, and that such a 
strange thing as talking with an angel, and with 
one just risen from the dead, would make them 
tremble and fear even though their hearts were 
glad, he said first " Be not afraid." After this he 
sent them, as the angel had done, to tell his breth- 
ren, meaning his disciples, that he would meet them 
in Galilee. 

From all this account we learn that Jesus rose 
from the grave, and triumphed over death. If my 
young friends have felt some pleasure in tracing 
the history, and studying the character of Jesus 
Christ, as they have been turning the leaves of 
this little book, perhaps they feel some joy now, 
when we have passed through the dark scene of 
his sufferings and death, and have come to the 
triumphant period of his resurrection ; but have 
you no further interest in this event? O yes, each 
one of you has a personal interest in the Saviour's 
resurrection. He rose from the grave by his own 



140 



our saviour's great commission. 



power ; as he told his disciples in the tenth chapter 
of John, " I have power to lay down my life, and 
I have power to take it again." He died for us, 
and rose also for us, promising, as we learn from 
different parts of the New Testament, to raise up 
our bodies as he raised his own. Your body, 
young and healthful as it now is, must one day 
moulder in the earth, and is it not a pleasant 
thought to you that the dust of your body will 
sleep in the care of that Saviour who once had a 
body like your own, and who raised himself from 
the grave, and has promised to raise you also? 
When Jesus shall call the dead from their graves, 
the bodies of those who loved and served him 
while on earth will be raised to enjoy a life which 
will never end. They will be made like Christ's 
glorious body, and be admitted to the happy place 
that he has prepared for them. Never again will 
they feel pain, never become feeble with age, never 
die again; and for the hope of such a glorious 
resurrection we should now offer praise and thanks- 
giving to him " who hath loved us, and given him- 
self for us." 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

OUR SAVIOUR'S GREAT COMMISSION. 

Matt, xxviii. 18 — 20. 

18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All 
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 

19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost : 



our saviour's great commission. 141 

20. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world. Amen. 

In the last chapter Jesus had appointed to meet 
his disciples in Galilee. To that place they went, 
and their beloved Saviour " came to them, say- 
ing, All power is given unto me in heaven and in 
earth." The disciples must have known that Jesus 
was very powerful when they saw him control dis- 
eases, and make the winds obey his word; and 
now when they saw that he had come forth from 
the dead they had new evidence of his power ; but 
it may be that they did not yet know how great 
his power was ; and now, when he was about to 
leave them, he assured them that he had all power 
in heaven and in earth. Though his disciples 
would soon see him beside them no more, and 
would sometimes be unable to realize that his 
spirit was with them, still they need not fear the 
power of wicked men, or of any other beings, for 
Jesus was more powerful than they, and if they 
trusted in him he would guide them through all 
dangers and difficulties, and bring them at last to 
the enjoyment of heavenly rest. But they had yet 
much to do on earth, and in the nineteenth and 
twentieth verses he gives them their commission, 
or tells them what their employment must be. 

Our Saviour had now fulfilled his mission on 
earth. He had shown his perfect example, had 
wrought his miracles, and preached his pure and 
holy doctrines. He had died to atone for our 
sins, and had risen from the grave to show his 
conquest over death, and now he was about to 
leave his gospel for his followers to preach in his 



142 our saviour's great commission. 

name. Here, in the two last verses above, he gives 
them a most solemn charge to teach — not the in- 
habitants of one town or country, not such as spoke 
their own language only — but "all nations;" bap- 
tizing them, as you recollect he was baptized by 
John, only adding, "In the name of the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost;" and teaching them 
to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded 
them. All those instructions which he gave in 
his " sermon on the mount," and all that he taught 
during his whole life, they were to give to others 
in his name; and he adds, " lo, I am with you al- 
ways, even unto the end of the world." Though 
he should not be with them in body as he had 
been, his presence would be with them, and with 
all his people, even with those who should live in 
the last days of the world. He would know all 
their trials, and comfort their hearts, and strengthen 
them to do all that he required of them. 

We do not understand that this command and 
promise were given only to the disciples whom 
Jesus then addressed, but to all whom he should 
call to preach his gospel in all ages of the world. 
The minister whom you hear on the Sabbath, and 
ail who now preach the gospel in this or any other 
country believe this command to be addressed to 
them, and if they do not devote their lives to the 
employment of teaching the people from the Word 
of God, they will disobey him. Think of this, 
dear reader, when you are in the house of God, 
and do not let your thoughts wander about, nor 
let your eyes rest on your Sabbath school book to 
read it in meeting time, for that pious man who 
is addressing you is one whom Jesus has sent to 



our saviour's great commission. 143 

teach you the way to heaven. He has a message 
of warning or entreaty for you, sent by the friend 
of sinners; if you slight that message, you slight 
him who died that you might live. If your father 
sent a message to you by your brother, and you 
treated him with indifference, and would not listen 
to his words, would you not disobey and dishonor 
your father? So when you disregard the words 
of the minister, it is not against him, but against 
the great and holy God that you sin. Again, you 
sin against God if you are willing, for trifling ex- 
cuses, to stay away from his public worship, where 
his ministers go to instruct us. Do not allow an 
indolent feeling, or the desire for a nice dress 
when you already have a decent one, keep you 
from attending meeting. I have one more anec- 
dote to tell you of one of my little friends who is 
gone from earth; and I hope it will lead you to 
love the house of God while you enjoy health. 
Since I have been preparing this book for you, 
but a few weeks since, a little boy of my acquaint- 
ance who had been long pining away with disease, 
said to his mother on Saturday, "May I go to 
meeting to-morrow?" "My dear," said his mo- 
ther, " you are too sick to go to meeting." " But 
I have not been in a great while," said the little 
boy; "I want to go very much;" and when his 
mother told him that he could not even have his 
clothes on, nor sit up a moment, he said he could 
be wrapped in his gown, and ride in his father's 
arms. Just as that earthly Sabbath closed, on 
which my little friend was so anxious to join the 
worshipers of God below, his spirit was taken, 
as we hope, to the eternal Sabbath of heaven, and 



144 our saviour's great commission. 

prepared to join the assembly of the saints on high, 
where disease or sin can never enter, and the 
worship of God is never interrupted. 

It is in obedience to this last command of our 
Saviour, that the missionaries of whom you have 
heard and read, leave all their dear friends at 
home, and go to spend their lives with the heathen. 
These pious ministers and their w r ives remember 
that Jesus said "Go teach all nations," and though 
they love their country and their friends as well 
as we love ours, tney are willing to bid adieu to 
all, because they pity the heathen, and wish to 
have them hear the gospel, and be saved through 
the death of Christ. These self-denying people 
bear witness that Jesus remembers his promise, 
"lo, I am with you always," for they write home 
that they enjoy the presence of Jesus, and are very 
happy in keeping his commands; and those who 
have died in heathen lands have said with their 
latest breath that Jesus was with them, and they 
never regretted leaving their native land to carry 
the gospel to the heathen. 

Matthew relates nothing more respecting our 
Saviour, after this last command and promise, but 
we learn from the first chapter of Acts that he 
visited his disciples occasionally for forty days, 
and then they saw him ascend up into heaven. In 
the last chapter of Luke it is said, "And he led 
them out as far as Bethany; and he lifted up his 
hands and blessed them. And it came to pass 
while he blessed them, he w r as parted from them, 
and carried up into heaven." 



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